I May Find Peace Within The Emptiness…

Well folks, it has been a long while! Too long infact!

To those who care - I apologise for the lack of updates/posts/spam. Real Life has certainly kept me busy and left me little enough time to play, let alone blog about EVE.

However - there appears to now be a lot of light on the horizon and things are settling down once more, such is the way of the world. Whilst we all wait with our teeth clenched for the inevitable zombie apocalypse (presumably caused by a mutation of the rampant “swine flu”) I can confirm to you that some nice new updates will be coming your way via my blog.

In “Real Life” (Ha! There’s a novelty concept!) I have written several articles for Beckett’s Massive Online Gamer magazine. They are EVE related (consider it a sort of “Bi-Monthly” column…of sorts) and if you like the sound of that and you are based in North America then by all means rush out to your local store and purchase the latest issue, or head over HERE to scubscribe or learn a little more about the magazine.

So…shameless personal plugs aside I will summarize my message: More to come, thank you for sticking with me!

Oh and…I might be switching hosts soon…will keep you posted on that little chestnut!

Friends! Romans! … Wait…That’s not right…

People of Earth! …No…not right either…

To whom it may concern…Hmmm, screw it! Let’s dive right in! *Insert tinny splash sound effect here*

So we found a wormhole. Neat huh? We went through it too…saw some stuff man…saw some thiiiings and this post - it’s going to talk about it and it’s hopefully going to be an enjoyable experience for both you and I as we briefly dive into the feelings of fear and excitement that intertwined to form last nights wormhole experience!

Morale was on a high within the corp: new expansion, new graphics and new content, even more reasons to give up parts of our soul to EVE Online (as if it didn’t have enough reasons already). We decided, around 10PM that we should form an exploratory force to scout out some Unknown territory. Agreement was rapidly reached and several of us raced around fitting together a few Battleships. For myself, I chose a trusty, reliable, chunky Dominix and proceeded to Dual Rep it to hell and whack a shed-load of drones in it with a spattering of Dual 250mm Rails to complement that. It was a makeshift fitting, but it was a tough one and it left me feeling like a grizzled veteran, pushed for time and making do with what he has. In short, I was happy with the Dominix.

There were delays of course, as the event was impromtu, but eventually we gathered our small force together: a Dominix, two Megathrons an Ishkur and a Buzzard and after some probing, we found ourselves a wormhole leading into the dreaded UNKNOWN. Pulses were racing, mouths were becoming parched with anticipation…and we jumped through with our breaths held. On the other side we were greeted with an incredible sight (Ventrilo was abuzz with praise for CCP at this point) and we knew…it was going to be a good night.

A couple of neutral targets had also come through the wormhole behind us and, since we were far from home with no chance of backup, we decided to play it safe and headed for the local star to begin scanning for Sleeper outposts.

An unknown star in an unknown system...

It didn’t take us long to find one, one scan revealed well over 10 cosmic signatures, either Sleeper Checkpoints or Sleeper Hangars and we decided to first try our hand at a Checkpoint and see what we would come up against. We fleet warped in, nerves on edge and excitement running at an all time high. Upon the warp bubble’s collapse we were presented with a large Sleeper outpost, and several mean looking gun emplacements which immediately began firing whilst several frigates started approaching us at speed, with a high transversal velocity. Our Ishkur pilot was badly hit by the first volley and was forced to warp straight out but the Battleships were of course much sterner and we went to work on eliminating the frigates incase of webbers and scramblers. Drones were unleashed but the Sleepers certainly meant business as they immediately countered several of them forcing us to manage the drones very carefully. The checkpoint in the end was not too difficult and with drone management and the hefty tanks on the Battleships we dispatched the reinforcement Sleeper Cruisers and Battleships and began our little salvage operation.

The Checkpoint...

The Dominix prowls on the outskirts...

Salvage was certainly the name of the game. Much needs to be learned and as I am sure many of you are yourselves thinking - there seems to be quite a lot to gain from these Sleepers and their salvage so we were determined to start early and gather what we could, bring it home and see how things developed back on the home markets. During our salvaging we noticed that the blue mass we had mistaken for a second star was infact some form of cosmic anomaly that was “eating” the system’s star! (More praise was now heaped on CCP on Ventrilo) This may seem a frivolous detail but, something like this is unheard of back in “known” space and the visual effects out here in wormhole space were simply stunning. I heartily advise that you check it out when you have the opportunity as my pictures, whilst good (because I took them of course!) do not do the full effect justice!

Matter from the star being sucked away into oblivion...

The Dominix marvels at the sight...

Jaws suitably dropped and then gathered up again, saliva cleared away and salvage successfully stowed we resolved to hit up a Sleeper Hangar for our second run and after a quick scan we were warping again. Battle was joined quickly again by our Sleeper adversaries, with the Frigates closing in quickly and at a high transversal velocity to dodge the Megathron’s. No gun emplacements this time, but a couple of Battleships more than before. The firing animation for the Sleeper Battleships is very nice and also, I neglected to point out earlier that the Sleepers do not have shields. Instead they have armour and hull - but…they pack a punch and their armour is very very thick. They also used missiles which deal multiple damage types at once, instead of just one - which can present a problem. A conversation I oversaw in the “EVE Bloggers” channel stated that one group had lost a Vexor to two volleys of Sleeper fire, and a quote from a ship loss mail indicated even more heavy Sleeper damage. We were certainly up against easier opponents than some, but they still provided us with new challenges and kept us on our toes/hooves (Just to keep alive the myth that we may or may not be cloven hooved demi-gods)

A Sleeper Battleship...

Once the killing was dispensed with, we once again salvaged the wrecks against the backdrop of stellar destruction. We decided that since we had started late, we had better head for home and once we had gathered everything we warped back to the wormhole and jumped…Or at least, me, one megathron and an Ishkur jumped…The wormhole collapsed as we jumped through leaving our Buzzard and second Megathron pilot temporarily trapped on the Unknown side, whilst I was safely back in Caldari space. The collapse also trapped several other players who had neglected to bring probing equipment. It wasn’t until 3PM today that our Megathron and Buzzard pilots managed to find a Wormhole to safety (they gave up at 3AM last night after over an hour of scanning) and when they found one, they emerged in Amarr low sec space, around 20 jumps from our home system. Despite this harsh reality check, we laughed - I for one think that this mechanic is fantastic and lends a very “Star Trek Voyager” sort of vibe to gameplay, lost…far from home and all the associated larks that this entails!

It was an exhilirating experience, since we purposely avoided Wormholes on the test server, to go through into the Unknown and for it to really, truly be just that - unknown. Laughter, fear, excitement and just a little bit of joy all threw themselves into the mixing pot last night and even though they became trapped far from home for a little while, our two pilots made it home safe and sound - what more can you ask for? Aside from a magic pair of trousers of course…

Lessons were learnt, loot was gathered and despite a minor setback - we had a successful evening. I will try to get some more screenshots (and maybe some video) on our next voyage so if you enjoyed the images shown here, feel free to keep checking my Flickr Photostream!

In summary then folks: More please!

Yesssssss! I got an update in! *Jumping in the air, cheering like a fool*

First of all folks, allow me to extend my most sincere apologies to you all for the severe update drought over here! I started a new job and with moving back to my home town (back to my roots y’all) I have been hooking up with old friends and re-forging those old ties! It’s been exciting, but it has hampered my recent ability to post regularly.

Happily, things are now settling down, my training is complete (which has a distinctly Sith/Ninja sound to it) and I can hopefully return to some modicum of normality…Although I will settle for occupying a limbo half-life ‘twixt reality and unconsciousness - I’m just that kinda guy!

There have been several updates within the EVE Universe which…let’s be fair - are pretty major. I’ll be posting my own experiences soon enough but for now I will keep this post to the news.

New Chronicles

A couple of updates on this front - CCP has continued its fantastic “The End of the World” series of Chronicles - please do check them out, they are a great read!

The End of the World: The Great Harvest

The End of the World: We Humans

I’ve of course added them to the ever growing Chronicles listing, so EVE Fiction fans - get reading!

Apocrypha!

Well guys, some big changes in the game world this week. EVE Online: Apocrypha has landed and forcibly clawed its way into both my heart and my mind. So, presumably it’s doing something similar to the rest of you with varying results.

The expansion has spawned a wave of  “Scope News Network” updates, further expanding the EVE Fiction universe in a similar way to the wormholes themselves. Be sure to check them out here!

Other Fiction Updates

In more EVE Fiction news, I will be posting a big update for fans of the “Fiction Pack”. I do hope you guys have been keeping up with the pack members blogs, there have been some awesome posts in the past two months, some of which I will be listing here in the next day or so!

Also, rather belatedly - I will be posting a review of “EVE Online: The Empyrean Age” novel. I’m doing this now as there are a lot of people out there who haven’t read it and perhaps need a second opinion on whether they should or should not - the review will be for you people. Yes…I see you nodding appreciatively - DON’T thank me! :P

So people, expect some updates and…expect the unexpected - Is that even possible? If you expect it…then it’s not unexpected…but you have no way of knowing…Oh hell, this is like the tree that fell down in the forest but when nobody was looking - that was a terrible time…

BYE! *Waving manically*

Quick news flash…

*FLASH*

CCP have graced us with the third installment of the excellent “End of the World” series of Chronicles and this one raises the stakes just a little. Great work CCP! Keep them coming thank you very much! My hunger is not yet sated.

We return to our beloved Sisters of EVE as they continue their investigations…

Check it out here

Welcome to the fourth installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed here. Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

This month…(well I realise I have posted at the start of February…but it’s still January in my head - honest!) the fantastic Manasi hits us with something to ponder:  ”How do we, EVE bloggers, adapt to changes as they are thrust upon us (speed changes, no more ghost training, all the Dev blogs, etc), or as our lives make playing the game different (more time, less time)?”. It’s a question guaranteed to generate discussion and make us bloggers work a little harder so thanks for that Manasi!

Shameless Star Wars quote for the title…but, hey…no matter how many Jar Jar’s you throw at it in subsequent prequels, “A New Hope” is still a good piece of fun! But that’s precisely what is difficult about running an EVE Online Blog (or any blog) when you also have RL commitments. We all know the stories of this new generation of “professional bloggers” who carve out their earnings online through ad-revenue and click throughs but, for the average blogger their writings are a hobby, a past-time and a way to connect with other people. So, balancing the dreaded REAL LIFE BEAST!!!!!! and running your blog…AAAAAAAND actually playing EVE Online can actually turn out to be quite tough! So the question forces itself into your face like an annoying salesman - how do you adapt? What do you do? Well, I’m glad I asked…I try and set myself targets!

Now…before I continue, I’d like to point out that I don’t always meet these targets bang on time, but I set them and I do my damndest to work towards them but of course when caught twixt the jaws of the real life beast, flailing your limbs, you sometimes cannot make a time or day you wanted to post - we all know this feeling, us solemn bloggers - we heroic few!

Nonetheless, targets are set and with gusto I stride towards them…well, as much gusto as I can muster! Targets must be set and those targets must be flexible and you must be able to adapt to changes in your situation. My recent example would be my move. Unfortunate RL circumstances arose and it became clear that I had to leave Liverpool where I was living and return back to the city of my birth - Manchester. Suddenly I had a whole  new kettle of fish on my hands, which was odd - since there was never a kettle of fish there originally…hmmm…but yes….I returned to Manchester and was confronted with a whole lot of extra time on my hands whilst I was looking for work. So I resolved to better my blog! More time = more blog and gaming time, so I used that time to put the Fiction Pack into motion and gather cohorts around me to forge a new era of glory in EVE Fan Fiction! *Roaring Cheers and Applause from the Ampitheatre….* My point is, that every once in a while you get these little windows of opportunity - you must exploit them with all the ruthlessness and effort you can summon, as you can reap excellent dividends from doing so! Eventually of course, this window will close - in my case, I have had to step up my job search and hopefully within the next week or so I will be working again and thus, will not have ALL day to focus on my site. Good news is, I have done the hard work, now I simply need to keep providing the content I targeted and all will be well in my merry little world.

That’s how RL has affected my blog recently, but - how did it effect my EVE experience? A good question, well made! I would say it had two primary effects. Firstly, it enriched my EVE immersion - I made a few new friends, and I learnt a lot about the rich backstory and history that CCP. This inspired me to do a few things in-game - for example, myself and some corp mates have resolved to make the pilgrimage to the EVE Gate, where it all began which is bound to be a good event for us all as we sneakily slip through space and take in the sights along the way and maybe break a few hearts and make a few bucks as we go! I spent a lot of time thinking about how, in a year of playing the game I have seen NOTHING of it when I think about the big picture. This scared and enthralled me and I resolved to continue as I have, unveiling the EVE Universe piece by piece and step by step…

Secondly, through focusing heavily on my blog for several weeks, I found myself going through periods of very low actual in game time. Coupled with the remnant of the holiday seasons, this led to me being very unproductive for some time in terms of my wallet…which makes me think of opportunities lost! However, I’m not wholly convinced I could have done it any other way, so I will content myself with the knowledge that I have bettered my understanding of the game itself which slightly compensates my rather empty in game wallet…slightly!

Lastly, I’d like to address another facet of Manasi’s question…Changes to the game itself….

I have been playing just over a year now and in that time I have seen plenty of changes I guess…Although not as many as the likes of Winterblink and CrazyKinux! I was fresh off the Trinity boat, and now we’re rapidly approaching Apocrypha…which means that Empyrean Age and Quantum Rise have come and gone in the time I have been playing - introducing Faction Warfare, increasing levels of official fiction (including the first EVE Novel - Empyrean Age), new graphical touches (stargates, new ship skins), vast improvements to server structure and coding, a new ship class and many changes to game mechanics (speed being the most prominent I can think of!) All of these changes have impacted my gameplaying experience and thinking honestly, I can’t say that these changes have been for the worse, they have certainly increased my overall enjoyment of the game on the whole so from my perspective at least, CCP have done a good job in maintaining my interest in EVE Online and have continued to provide me with reasons to subscribe and even to create an alt!

All in all, life continually evolves and changes and we must follow its ebbs and flows, rising up and down as it guides us along. EVE Online is no exception, year after year the game has strengthened - I hope that this continues and I hope that the same goes for my blog and all the other wonderful bloggers and readers out there too.

Stay frosty folks, fly safe and *spooky voice*welcome to the wooooorrrrllllld of tomoorrrooooooooooooow *end of spooky voice*

Participants:

A quick announcement folks….

EVE Community blogger extraoirdinaire CrazyKinux has graciously included my site in his latest update of the famous EVE Blog Pack! For those of you who may not be aware of the Blog Pack, it operates similarly to the Fiction Pack…except it came first, is larger and encompasses blogs that are not just fiction! It is CK’s Blog Pack that has led to great networking and the growth of the EVE Online Blogging community, so this is a very exciting development!

This is particularly great news for me as it was through discovering the blog pack that I was initially inspired to create a blog in the first place! Thanks to CK and thank you to everyone who visits, reads and comments here on the site. I promise some more content is coming soon - a hectic RL week filled with job hunting and its fair share of highs and lows have sapped my time, leaving me only a fistful of sand in my giant, oversized hourglass. A late blog banter post is forthcoming, along with Chaper Two of ‘Joyful Sorrow’ which is now almost complete!

Again, thanks to CK and a big loud “WORD!” to everyone else!

CCP has kicked off 2009 for EVE Fiction with two brand new Chronicles related to the upcoming ‘Aprocrypha’ expansion coming our way on March 10th.

Both Chronicles appear under the title “The End of the World” and have been added to my Chronicles listings under The Sisters of EVE and The Blood Raiders pages, since the chronicles primarily concern these two factions more than any other.

“The End of the World: The Spiral”

“The End of the World: Half a Life”

Great work CCP, thoroughly enjoyable!!

Another update:  Chapter Two of my current story ‘Joyful Sorrow’ will be coming within the next couple of days. Read Chapter One here

Today is a big day for the EVE Fiction Community - the EVE Fiction Pack is born!

I’ve spent the last few days finalising the arrangements and I am pleased to announce that the Fiction Pack is now live and will be bringing you the best in in character and fiction posts the EVE Community has to offer. The project is of course, in its infancy and I will be looking to expand the list over time to encompass some more of the great blogs that have been posting fiction recently. So if you are not in the pack right now, if you continue to publish high quality content on a regular basis and you are involving yourself in the community then you are putting yourself in good stead for the future!

The EVE Fiction Pack

Life in Low Sec - Mynxee

Roc’s Ramblings - Roc Wieler

Sweet Little Bad Girl - Shae Tiann

A Mule in EVE - Manasi

Diving into PsycheDiver’s Psyche - PsycheDiver

Diary of a Pod Pilot - Myrhial Arkenath

I May Find Peace Within the Emptiness… - YoMma

Ombeve - Ombey

The EVE Fiction Pack will be striving to maintain high standards in its in character and fictional work and to put out that content on a regular basis (at least two per month) and promoting growth of the EVE Fiction Community!

Make sure you check out all of the blogs in the pack, they all have great content and believe me when I say that this trend is only going to continue!!

The midnight moon played its morose melody across the night sky. Tcheyelle imagined it began with some light strings, rising gently to be followed by the soft kisses of a piano, delicately played. The strings would rise and fall before the soloist took centre stage overwhelming the starry audience with gentle tones. She would close her eyes and hum the tune in her mind as the moon waxed and crossed the sky. Tcheyelle sometimes caught herself wishing that she was the moon from time to time, imagining what it would be like to drift through the night sky to the accompaniment of such music.  

Such sad music, she mused. But so peaceful…

Tcheyelle sighed deeply, the same way she always did when she had listened to her midnight moon and knew she must leave this place. Finishing off the last of her canteen, she rose from her perch on the cliff’s edge and looked out over the city and its vast dock lands which sprawled out in the basin below.

Thousands of lights permeated the view, glowing and adding their glare to the landscape. The entire city was built within a giant crater carved out countless millennia ago by wrathful rock. The sky tower dominated the area, as was to be expected. It rose up into the clouds above, its lights blinking on and off since time immemorial.

But there was a time when the moon and the sky tower had not yet met and she kept closer company with the stars than with humanity…She thought to herself.

On ground level sat countless structures of varying height - in the centre, clustered around the sky tower itself, were the larger buildings rising high into the night but completely dwarfed by their gargantuan sibling which stood as the centre piece of the financial and industrial heart of the city. Dotted around the western edge of the basin were the hovels and shanty towns where the unwashed masses played out their lives, rotting, stinking and dreaming of a better life. The affluent holdings were located primarily on the northern edge, in huge lavish apartment complexes and grand villas. Surrounding them were the entertainment hubs - grand parks, theatres, bars and clubs and, like a barrier between rich and poor lay the brothels, the casinos and places where you could satisfy any sort of desire…for a price. The pleasure hubs…Or so they were called here in the city.

Tcheyelle had been perched in her favourite spot, on the rim of the basin’s southern edge, close to the docklands which stretched across the south and east of the crater. Whenever they came here, usually to resupply or refuel she would come to the same spot up on the cliffs above the city and she would watch and listen as the moon assembled her orchestra and played her concerto into the night…But soon the day would approach, guided by slivers of fiery light and she must leave once more for the stars.

Reattaching the canteen flask to her belt she began her descent to the docks below where, amongst the myriad of craft, lay her own vessel - inert and slumbering. The rest of her crew had likely finished their supply details and were probably sleeping, gambling or “sleazing” somewhere in the city. Tcheyelle wasn’t a gambler and she certainly wasn’t about to go “sleazing” anytime soon so she figured that sleeping was probably the best option.

Midnight was long past and the moon and her orchestra were fast approaching the curtain call as the slivers of morning were approaching. Tcheyelle slept soundly, dreaming of sorrowful music and of names long forgotten. Such joyful sorrow…

This is the first part of my new content rollout, so please allow me to explain the direction in which I am heading (and since you are reading this, you’re headed that way too!).

After having kept the blog for a few months I decided that I have not been keeping it well at all - I simply wasn’t happy with what I have been doing so far. I felt that something new was needed, a new direction to inspire me to write and something which would encourage people to visit and read my blog and its contents. I talked with various people, I sat and thought and in the end I came up with an idea that I liked and something which I hope the rest of you will appreciate also…

New Eden is a very large place, filled with content and CCP has done a tremendous job in creating such a vibrant, diverse and deep world. As these sorts of things tend to do there has been a growth of Fiction set within this universe, both official and fan made. In my browsing and delving I have yet to come accross a place which truly allows people access to all of this content in one place. The official site hosts the Chronicles and so forth and the blogs are home to a deluge of great fan fiction - but there isn’t a place where someone who is interested in EVE Fiction to come to and find out about it. In short, EVE Fiction is spread all over the place and I intend to be the one to help people get to it!

So, I’ve been working on several things - detailed below:

Phase 1 - I have categorized all the currently existing Official EVE Chronicles from CCP and linked to them all directly. They have been categorized by race/faction so people can easily find fiction related to their chosen faction or just to break it up into “bite size” chunks. Currently they exist in their raw list form but I plan on adding summaries to the lists and fine tuning it (with feedback) to make it even more accessible. Once the new design is in place - this content will be quite streamlined! For now, you can access all the pages in the nav menu on the right hand side of the blog.

Phase 2 - A list of all the current EVE Blogs that I am aware of which contain EVE Fiction. I suppose you could call it the “EVE Fiction Pack”, inspired by CK’s EVE Blog Pack (This is what happens when you spend your nights podcasting with CrazyKinux! :P)

Phase 3 - My very own EVE Fiction….Something which I have been aiming to do for a long while but I believe have finally found the time and inspiration to come up with (hopefully) interesting concepts and ideas. As well as linking to the best in EVE Fiction I will be putting out my own as well which I really hope you enjoy and I hope I recieve some good feedback on.

Phase 4 - The new site design. This is currently in production by a very talented friend of mine and I hope to be able to implent it as soon as possible. Once the site design is in everything will feel more streamlined and the site will just be easier on the eye!

Phase 5 - The future. My intentions are to help foster and nurture the growing EVE Fiction community - which is definitely growing. Several new blogs (mine included) are opening up to fiction in New Eden and we have some really fantastic talent out there. I also believe that there is plenty more talent to come and I will be aiming to provide advice, links to resources and any commentary that I can in order for those who are interested to learn more about the story behind the game we all know and love and perhaps help them to create stories themselves.

So here it is, Phase 1 - the EVE Chronicles, categorized for your reading pleasure. I hope some of you are as excited about this project as I am and by all means contact me if you have questions/ideas or want to make sure I haven’t missed your blog out.

I will be posting the “EVE Fiction Pack” links tomorrow if all goes according to plan and once I have finalised all the links. If you’re eager to rush me along, feel free to mail me your link or leave a comment on this post and I will add you to the list.

I think this is an exciting time for the EVE Fiction community and I’m looking forward to being a part of it!