Intergalactic Summit

After a colleague linked me some data pertaining to Drifters and their ships, mentioning that he heard they had been found near these sites, I decided to go searching for these structures to see them for myself and perhaps catch a glimpse of the "Drifters".

Fortunately, with the help of the public database, I was able to find quite a few of these uncloaked structures located near connections from Thera and I was able to check out 10 in less than an hour. While I often saw the Seekers warping to the structure and scanning the beacon, I was unable to find any Drifters at any of the structures so far. I have yet to ever shoot the Seekers since they first appeared but I'm not thinking that affected my chance to encounter them.

In regards to the structures, they are huge, you really have to get up next to them and see for yourself. The design doesn't seem to resemble any faction I've seen before. The top spire seems to have quite a few antennae, like a control tower or station. Below the spire is the widest section of the structure and has many ridges going vertically along the structure. Some of these ridges were actually openings into the structure itself and I managed to order a camera drone inside for a peek at what looks like a large hangar. It also has some strange cylinders on the exterior around the middle area. These remind me somewhat of gas harvesters but I don't see what their purpose could be.

After running by the first structure I moved to hi-sec where I could conduct a safer inspection and attempt to gain access to any of it's systems with my ships electronics. First thing I noted when I began locking it up was how long my sensors took to even lock onto the thing. Sixty seconds to lock something larger than several titans stacked end to end, and this is with Astero sensors. Once it was locked, I attempted to gain any more information with my ships electronics but both my tech-two versions of data and relic analyzers were unable to retrieve anything useful.

Another thing I noted while visiting these sites is the sound. When close to the structure there seems to be a lot of high-pitched white noise that makes it hard to pick out, but when you get some distance you can hear a distinct sound repeating itself, like some kind of message. Its low-pitch reminds me of a foghorn, but it has a pattern similar to Morse code with another sound at intervals like a muffled telephone ring.

I've also been hearing reports of unidentified wormholes with Sleeper structures surrounding the wormhole, however I haven't seen one of these for myself yet so they must not be at every one of these unidentified structures.

I suggest people act with their heads and not off raw emotion.

-Eran

Edit:

I see I was late to the punch. Here are some more links to other peoples reports.

Scope - CONCORD Assembly Places Genesis Fleet and DED On High Alert

Samira Kernher

Aurora Morgan - Warning about Drifters

Frenjo Borkstar - [EMERG] [A'J] Drifters - Emergency Statement

Ace Echo - Drifter Combat Analysis



I also forgot to mention that I decided to make a trip to New Eden after seeing these cloaks run off on so many of these structures. I was hoping to find some noticeable differences in other places in the cluster to perhaps help answer some questions about why these changes are happening, and what is causing them. Besides the fact it was under a Sansha incursion, New Eden seemed normal. The violent wormhole at Promised Land seemed unchanged, still showing the nebula of Cloud Ring. The Epicenter in Thera also appeared the same, and no changes were noted at any of the sites in Thera.

The lock time was off-putting, I'll give it that.

Gonna see if I can track down one of these Drifters.

Um.

Since the intel seems scattered and Eran posted links to it above....

... and the main "war scramble" seems to be happening in a topic dedicated to the Circadian Sleepers ...

... which isn't ideal ...

Maybe we use this as the main place for coordinating intel and efforts?

Efforts?

This is not a battle one can win.
These "Drifters" bring with them Judgement upon All of New Eden
as the Jove did upon Amarr...

~holds aloft the Pax Amarria~
Here lies your salvation, Here!
take heed now to the wisdom prepared for this day!

Here's an brief rundown of how the "Drifters"/Jovians are a terrifying threat, and what they're doing.

- They are generating wormholes with their own power, and are invading from the same nebula as the Shattered Wormhole Systems are located in. The wormholes cannot be traversed, being protected in the same fashion as the ones employed by Nation.

- They are moving large amounts of ships into high security space, and building structures as "staging points". They are erecting these with incredible haste; Presumably by some advanced means. Most of these seem to exist to support the wormholes, but there are others with a presently unknown purpose.

- They attack anyone who approaches their structures or wormholes, and will chase them down relentlessly until they are completely destroyed. Ship and pod both. They will then adapt a much more proactive approach to destroying said invader from then on. They are capable of working in groups and employing advanced tactics to do this.

- From the ones that have been dispatched and the bodies observed, they are Jovian in terms of ethnicity, but taller and more adept for combat, and with a greater use of cybernetics. (If these are the Jove we know and love, perhaps this is simply what their military caste looks like.)

And, wait for it,

- They surpass us technologically in almost every way. Their engines are capable of apparant extra-system warp, their scanners are fast and extremely precise compared to our crude probes. Their thrusters are based on some unknown technology we cannot even approach comprehending, which barely generates any heat whatsoever and simply allows them to "slide" through space at unnerving speed. They have, at the very least, stronger shields and armor alloys, assuming something beyond us is not at play. Finally, they have weapons of exceptional power that I simply don't know how to explain - Think what happened at Vak'Atioh, but strapped to a battleship instead of a carrier.

- Last but not least, they are obviously capsuleers judging by their neck implants. Yet their ships have no pods, and the implants are smaller and more delicate. Perhaps they've iterated on the technology and can now use it reliably without the need for a closed environment and sensory deprivation. Whatever it is, it probably makes them immortal, which means they will take intel beyond their graves, and not fear for their lives.

I warn anyone reading: Do not approach these ships are you are used to approaching non-capsuleer vessels! They are far beyond Nation or even the Sleepers. They are a match for us in every sense of the word. If you must engage them, use overwhelming force!

Having the wisdom to know when not to attack... is better than any shield booster.

If they begin an outright attack on us, I think a temporary ceasefire between the empires would be very much in order. The threat of these invaders is a level far above what Nation is capable of. What we are capable of. Failure to present a united front could mean more then a political humbling for one faction; It could mean the end of our entire international meta-civilization as we know it.

Is there any proven link between the appearance of these "Drifters", and the suspicious behaviour of the thing collecting Jovian body parts at Site One in Eram ?

I... don't know what to say. I would however recommend extreme caution, and keep guns offline, judging by what they are capable of. Those vessels put Sansha's Nation ships to shame.

For now, they don't seem interested in a full-scale assault, just defend themselves while they... do whatever they're doing. Maybe they're gathering their numbers? It would appear they are establishing themselves at a new place, given we first saw "scouts" (Seekers) and now we are seen combat fleets that, for now, won't attack unless aggressed first. That is, if Seekers drones are related to them...

But then, why does it seem that these massive towers of theirs (if they are) have been there for a long time? Are they arriving at a new place... or coming back?

Have we agglomerated a list of all drifter-created wormholes to find any links between systems? If we discover that the system's stars have to be within a certain mass range, we can pre-emptively start to search for possible incursion systems.