Intergalactic Summit

Was anything recoverable from the Vault?

There is a creature that lives in the forests of a very small continent in the north of Octanneve V. It's about ten centimetres long, multiple winged, with hooked razors for front legs which enable the scavenging of rotted meat. It's usually docile, readily feeding from the hand, but ignores living things most of the time.

It lives in huge nests of ten or more thousand individuals. Kick one of these nests, and your life is over, as they immediately swarm in an ultra-aggressive manner, raking and clawing at their attacker until he is a bloody smear on the foliage. They also send out pheromone distress calls, and a gut-wrenchingly horrible high scratching squeal from vibrating their inner wings, which brings the residents of every other nest - or hive, as some use the term - from kilometres around.

I note this simply because there is a saying in these here parts: If it looks like a nest, don't kick it. It perhaps reflects our Mannar caution, but I have found it wise.

I fear this is yet another nest that has been kicked over without reason - just because we could - and the swarm is about to descend upon us.

I can understand your loyalist viewpoint that Amarr was attacked without provocation, but I can assure you that many in the rest of the cluster consider that Imperial forces must have done something to draw the ire of the Drifters.

There is a significant body of evidence that points to capsuleer greed and aggressive acts being the original provocation that brought the Drifter threat into being. Going into a Hive and destroying structures for no other reason than 'let's see what happens' is science at its moral nadir. Amarr has got itself into a war with the Drifters and seems to be incapable (or unwilling) of examining why. That level of arrogance from the Empire is to be expected, but the rest of us would rather find a diplomatic solution.

Scientific consortia taking military actions under the pretext of research raises concerns.

And exactly what was that "something" sir? The Imperial Navy did not attack Drifter Hives as far as I've seen on any available report or news broadcast. I get the feeling that the Federation are deliberately trying to brainwash everyone into taking up democracy, is that a fact? No. So instead I go on what is the known on the field. The Drifters are attacking our home, therefore they are a threat that needs to be destroyed without mercy.



So you're saying every single capsuleer who's ever done anything to the Drifters, regardless whether they are aligned to the Empire or not, are the source of provocation for the Drifters to distinctly target the Empire? That doesn't make any sense. If they wanted to attack what was provoking them, they'd be after all capsuleers and not specifically our Empire. Further, the Drifters seem to have absolutely no interest in communication. They have delivered no demands, asked for no terms, not even made any kind of battlecry. If you want to sit on your thumbs and wait for them to try talking go ahead. I get the feeling if we tried that we'd be scratching our rears waiting for a message that never comes while our Navies are under attack.



It must be so nice to be able to make moral judgements while your home isn't under threat.

Why indeed? And why the focus on everywhere Jamyl I went? Why on the Seraph? I for one, am still very interested to learn what has been collected with that modified entosis connection a few months ago. It might hold the answer we are looking for.

But, let us take the issue under another angle, for which the same scrutiny can apply. What can we tell about the drifters? What can we tell about their relations with the sleepers? With Anoikis as a whole, as well as the Jove?

At first we met the sleepers, which we started harvesting eagerly. All the Empires, including the Amarr Empire - especially the Amarr Empire - took part in those actions. To us they were just a single entity, the sleepers. Now, we saw the drifters showing up alongside circadians. And more recently, I have heard reports of drifters shooting each other.

Are they really that unique, single entity presenting the same united front? It sure looks more complex than it was expected at first.

Now then, why would it be different for the drifters? Why would have they seen New Eden current civilizations for what they are: multiple, complex various systems they have all their own agendas and do not answer to the same rules, and leaders?

Why should we automatically assume that they see more clearly than what we initially saw about them? It is very possible, I think, that what they saw at first was an outside aggressor, coming from New Eden, and using a singular technology. Thus, they identified the threat with everyone of us. The same way we identified the threat with the drifters as a whole, and still do. And yet, they seem to show factionalism too.

Even if that was not true. It is very disingenuous, I think, if you will forgive me for saying so, to wash one's hands of what the other did in Anoikis, when the imperial government is as guilty as anyone else to have meddled there in the first place. And they sure were the first to dwelve deep into Anoikis right after the expeditions leaded by Duvolle.

It may not be so stretched to say that New Eden in its current iteration, has always thrived on scavenging. We are a scavenging civilization that constantly relied on ancient artifacts and leftovers by previous civilization to prosper. We continue to do so in Anoikis again and again, even when said previous civilizations are not even cold yet.

Why would that be so surprising as a result?

But... Mr Kinnison. That is not even a reasonable deduction to be had.

It is a fact, and denying it, is denying History. The Amarr Navy launched incursion groups right after Duvolle in Anoikis, before withdrawing eventually. That was right after Seylin.

Dust implant technology, is also partly due to their efforts.

It looks as though you are simply grasping for a reason to blame the Empire.

Transparency might not be of any use when the government itself may well have no clue as to what or why the Drifters have chosen the Amarr as their target.

It could be any number of arbitrary reasons that we could know everything about or nothing about.
For all we know the Drifters are angry because we used tungsten carbide alloys in our ships.

Considering some of the purported links between the Drifters and the Jovians, as well as Amarr's past aggression against, well, everyone including the Jove, it does not surprise me that the Drifters see the Amarr as a threat. Whether the Amarrians stirred up the trouble directly or the Drifters know Amarrian history well enough, they deemed the Amarr a threat.


I, for one, have decided to stay out of this war between the two but, as usual, offer my services to either party for the purposes of negotiation and arbitration. Given the lack of response from one party and the raised eyebrow from the other, I am not holding my breath, though the offer still stands.