EVE Fiction

This is the same sort of ambiguity that this topic breeds, especially player-to-player conversations. "There's a grand design, don't worry!" or some typical vague implication of knowledge others are not privy to. Whether that's the price of doing business or simply a matter of discourse, who is to say.

My argument and that of Velarra's is that the generic response to critique of this method of storytelling or lack thereof, IE "If you're criticizing it you're buying into the pitfalls set into the intricate story to trip people up because by questioning it you've admitted defeat and/or are missing the point." Is incorrect because we have not been given any reason to think otherwise. Over four years have passed and still nothing, the best any of us can hope for is future content in another expansion once W-Space comes back full circle on the update board. My belief and contention now is that W-Space has effectively been put on the backlog for updating and that the promised content hasn't been delivered on. Maybe I'm presuming too much but then again that's what Dropbear more than hinted at in his post.

Your argument holds true that people do like clean and tidy answers but what has happened (or hasn't, rather) with the W-Space storyline seems to go beyond players wanting cookie cutter answers. The absence of a thread of critique like this in all that time, as far as I'm aware of, seems to show this.

So unless you can back up claims that CCP has been keeping up with Sleepers and you can define what the 'solution' and 'question' is without being extraordinarily vague, I'm not buying it. That's not to be rude, I'm just trying to combat the trend I've seen take hold of many threads concerning Wormholes and Sleepers.

Also if everyone could post links in your posts to whatever you're talking about or referencing, I'd greatly appreciate it.

I really need to read this Templar One book. Amann I'd be more than willing to help

That does sound enticing, however there are a few things that I am considering before committing to such a project.

Of course we have the ability to do it, but that doesn't mean the Devs will play along and humor us with events if we try. If the W-Space story is done, I see no reason why they'd bother. Although I suppose them saying one way or another would give the game away.

Another thing is we should pick up where Arek'Jaalan left off, this seems rather intuitive however it's one thing to have our own project and another to be Arek'Jaalan 2.0. What with Dropbear aka Hilen Tukoss gone, I don't know the current state of affairs with Arek'Jaalan. The issue now would be integrating what we do know into the new project while still giving previous credit where it is due.

Furthermore, Arek'Jaalan was Developer headed and by extension gave players a real sense of purpose, a "This is real." feeling. I'm not sure how we can emulate that sort of enthusiasm which seems to have tapered off since 2011.

My RP alt, which I probably should've posted all of this on in the first place is Seylan Veers, for continuities sake in-game since I'm usually mining quite a bit on this character, is to consider this char ICly as Veers. But that's getting ahead of myself.

It is a great idea Amann and it'd be cool to see how many people are interested and what ideas they have.

I was thinking the same thing. I was planning on taking screen pics of the complexes that involve any missions with the sleepers and talocan. Text, ships, stations, etc. If what CCP Dropbear said in the old forums a few years ago is true then all the evidence is in the game so we could be missing something. It's very possible that there is a mission that some people have done but never reported. It's not uncommon since some people don't care about the history and only the money to be made.

Are there any missions that we know of that are in any of the nullsec areas?

I do not believe he said that. And by "interactive storytelling" it appears he meant something like "I give you three words of a sentence and you fill out the blanks" without there being any key to compare with.

Dropbear did leave CCP for a period, but apparently returned to the fold again rather quick (see references here). Apparently he is currently working in Atlanta (ref), and I believe that means he is in no longer working with the Eve Content/Storyline team in any capacity (they work out of Reykjavik) and has not done for quite a while.

Oh, and you want to explore something in zero sec? Try to see what the COSMOS missions there can tell. I have not gotten around to do those myself. Chances are low that the will have Sleeper or Talocan related info, though.

ADD: The Live Event team at the time of A'J tried to do two events in w-space. Both ended up as a farce, so hopefully we will not have anything like that again.

Here is a theory I sent to Amann Karris and convinced me it was worth sharing due to the dated nature of this story and by extension, lack of people to care (About defending Arek'Jaalan or Hilen Tukoss that is).

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I was reading through the Anoikis and Vitrauze Project chronicles as well as the Arek'Jaalan files just now and a few thoughts occurred to me after reading through them.

It appears Arek'Jaalan is a ruse or some sort of ploy to divert attention from certain items or objects of interest by hiding them in plain sight. Its 'perceived benevolence' as stated in the Anoikis Chronicle is its greatest deception, mostly because it's true. Arek'Jaalan is open and plain about what has been released to the public concerning W-Space, key phrase being 'released to the public.' In the Anoikis Chronicle it is rather explicitly stated that Hilen Tukoss is a primary move behind the Sleeper Component monopolization.

"That will turn the empires toward research.

Not if we intervene and provide for them what convincingly appears to be the most promising final applications of any potential studies. This hints at precisely the point we must illuminate. When framed as a concern for the balance of power between the empires and the capsuleers, our interests will appear far more congruent with theirs, and our actions will remain understandable. The empires can be made to quickly appreciate how little control over these new areas they will have, and from there, it will be simple to assist each of them in coordinating access to components we identify as key. They will recognize it as the only opportunity any of them have for strategic equality. None will refuse."

This ties in with the opening quote:

Imagine if the bars to your prison were all you had ever known.

Then one day, someone appears and unlocks the door.

If they have the power to do this, then are they really the liberator?

You never remembered who it was that closed you in.

(Thanks to Amann, I now know this is a almost verbatim reference to Plato's Allegory of the Cave.)

So my analysis is that either the Sleeper Components are either far more valuable than the empires, Concord and Tukoss have made them out to be or they are in fact not that important but used as a cover-up for something that is.

This leads me to my next point. The ending of Anoikis ends with a large sum of figures listed as the amount of Sleeper Components turned in that October (2010?). The numbers at that time are extraordinary and would certainly be able to provide plenty of data for whatever 'secret project' Tukoss or the mysterious ambassador at the end of Anoikis may have been working on.

"Our research?

>Had she not realized yet? In the early months, we can make a great deal of ground.

Early months?

She had not. The ambassador swallowed. Emotion was rippling inside each cell, bursting throughout the bloodstream as it tried to break free."

My conclusion is that the 'ambassador' at the end of Anoikis is either a member of Sansha's Nation or Sansha Kuvakei himself (possessing a True Slave). While that is an extraordinary claim here are a few salient pieces of information I want to try and tie together.

1. The 'previous experience' of Ishukone as mentioned by the director to Tukoss is their contact with the Jove.

2. Lianda Burreau was chosen because of her extensive background in . This seems to imply her clone or consciousness was intercepted somehow after she was killed in Anoikis.

3. All four of the Sleeper Components seem to integrate locations, time stamps, monitoring, and AI respectively. The funneling of these items to Sansha's Nation would account for their apparent mastery of Wormhole technology and access to Jove space.

4. Even though the ambassador is at first glance supposed to be recognized of the Empires, his female associate consistently refers to "The Empires" not "The other Empires." While flimsy, I believe it implies either the ambassador hailing from CONCORD or some other entity.

5. The 'most promising final applications of any potential studies' appears to be the Tech III cruisers. This implies that there is a further possibility with Sleeper technology and our current exploits have only scratched the surface.

Also,

-Arek'Jaalan as said by Tukoss himself is to be taken as "To get revenge." That seems to fall into line with Sansha Kuvakei's driving theme.

-Arek'Jaalan actively avoids investigation into Sleeper Components. (As far as I know.) All I've seen so far is a few cursory mentions.

-Arek'Jaalan fits within the quote about the prison bars and the liberator at the beginning of Anoikis, if the Project sets the standard, how will we ever know anything beyond it?

-Talocan technology vaguely resembles Nation technology, particularly the spines on certain structures. This one is a stretch I know, but it could fit.

Other possibilities is that CONCORD is behind this, which begs the question as to why and whether or not their security is compromised by foreign agents (Sansha) or worse they're doing it of their own internal accord.

My theory is that Sansha's Nation has been using the Sleeper Components and a captured Lianda Burreau for their recent breakthroughs in Wormhole technology. Additionally, we have been duped by CONCORD and Hilen Tukoss into buying into their prescribed definitions of the potential of Sleeper technology. This leads to further perception that their reason for this is direct manipulation by Sansha's Nation.

To me these pieces of information fall together fairly well and would account for several aspects of the current plot. However, this does take several assertions, such as knowledge of the CreoDron meeting, Hilen Tukoss' conversations, the ambassador's monologue, etc...

My mistake, seems like I violated my own rules there. Although the majority of the points are speculation, most everything can be found in the Chronicles or the EVElopedia.

Anoikis Chronicle.
The Vitrauze Project Chronicle.
Sleeper Components.
Arek'Jaalan Project. ("To get revenge" quote at very bottom.)
Also for images where I compared Talocan and Nation technology: Arek'Jaalan Library.
Ishukone Corporation.

Also thank you so very much for that link, I'm going through the PDF file now and this is incredible. Also that is the first post-Old Forums thread I've seen where Dropbear made an appearance, thank you.

EDIT: Also hadn't thought that the ambassador was Jovian in the Anoikis Chronicle, that's an interesting take on it and certainly plausible.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA

I know how you feel. I've been trying to catch up while in the process of moving and registering for classes.

An interesting find concerning the shift between lore focus on Wormhole Space in the Dropbear Era (2009-2011 from my estimations) to the current focus on Empires in the Illuminati Team Era (2011-present) by Rhavas, a long time player and Arek'Jaalan contributor.

http://interstellarprivateer.wordpress.com/2013/05/10/the-humans-are-the-real-monsters/

It'd be interesting to find out just how much of that is true and how much is speculation but from what has happened so far it seems like Rhavas is mostly correct. I wonder if W-Space will ever be pickd up in the future but the article speaks for itself.