Sunday 28 September 2014

The Yulai Incident, when Zombies defied Concord

The Yulai Siege

In YC 106, a group of capsuleers united under the Zombie Inc corporation laid a successful siege on one of the Yulai gates. It is important to know that in this period, Yulai was the major trade hub of the cluster, the Jita of its days. It is also considered a high security system, carrying a security rating of 1.0.

But the arrival of the Zombie fleet caused major disruption of the trade, as their smartbombing battleships destroyed anyone entering the system indiscriminately. The combined firepower of the sentry guns & Concord ships was unable to take these ships down, as the Zombie Members had brought in shield logistic ships, allowing them to maintain the shields of these sieging battleships despite the heavy concentrated fire from law enforcement. An ancient holofeed can be found here: Zombies Smartbombing Yulai

In the end, as thousands of ships already had perished, among them countless Concord ships and hundreds of capsuleer ships; Concord Command Personnel saw no other way out than to enforce their far reaching powers. They ordered the Zombie fleet to cease their aggression and stand down, else they would shut down their capsules.
The Zombie fleet declined to comply, believing that Concord would not dare to enact such desperate measure as it would cause a major backlash in the capsuleer community. But they were proven wrong when CCP Lickspittle followed through on his threat and temporarily shut down their capsules, for the duration of their sentence.

The aftermath of the Siege

The backlash was, as expected massive, but the capsuleer community proved to be sharply divided, between those who believed capsuleers should be above all laws and those who believed that capsuleers should not be allowed rampant freedom within Empire space.
During this, Concord decreed they would upgrade their response teams and also improve their weapon loadout, to prevent any capsuleer deactivation in the future resulting from Concord's inability to resolve an illegal combat situation directly.

In an effort to create a permanent solution, the CONCORD Inner Circle organized an emergency meeting.
During this meeting, the Jovian delegation offered to build a new line of Concord Battleships, fitted with appropriate Jovian technology to deal with any illegal capsuleer threat. These ships would become the Concord Command ships, using extremely advanced technology to eliminate any ship in record-time.
Only Concord pilots who were screened by the Jovians would be allowed to pilot these. It was also made very clear by the Jovian delegation that any attempt, no matter how small, to analyze this Jovian technology would bring down Jovian wrath upon them.
Considering the technology the Jovians shared with those who complied, it was enough to ensure that no nation would try to steal this technology for their own, lest they be left out of any future technology shared by the Jovians.

A change of combat doctrine was also adopted. No longer would Concord solely focus on the first offender, but they would now spread their attacks on multiple targets, disrupting any future logistic fleets brought into action against Concord.
However, the standard ships were still sent in first, to disrupt & destroy the offenders. Only when the initial wave of standard Concord ships failed to take down the aggressor, the Concord Command ship would jump in to deal with it by instantly destroying the hostile ship.

Speculation on the instant kill tech provided by the Jovians

The technology used to instantly destroy a ship is unknown, but a variety of theories exist. Most of these revolve around the assumption that the Kill beam isn't actually an energy beam, but an extremely advanced electronic attack weapon focusing on overloading subsystems, presumably the reactors or the shield generators. Overloading a ship's reactors would surely cause its immediate destruction, no matter the size of the ship.

There is even a precedent to this theory, as Empress Jamyl used an ancient weapon to wipe out an entire minmatar fleet with a single shot during the Battle of Mekhios. It can be assumed that the Jovians got a hold on a similar technology that works on a smaller scale, wiping out ships with a single shot.
Whatever the theories & the workings considering this kill beam, the results are frightening. No ship in all of the Eden cluster can stand up against this powerful & deadly weapon! There exists no known defense against this. Hence, if you commit an illegal aggression in high security space, you are unable to escape the destruction of your ship if you are a capsuleer.

The results of the Concord Command ship deployment

Ever since, the power of the Concord ships has remained unchallenged by capsuleers in direct confrontations. Ever since, most capsuleers attempted to defy Concord by outrunning their interception fleets.
From jumping around in system, to using Wormholes & Cyno's, it's all been tried & Concord adapted. But no successful direct confrontation has ever been reported since, but not by a lack of trying.
You can read about the latest large attempt to bring down a Concord ship here: Capsuleers fail to organize a gank on Concord where anarchist capsuleers gathered hundreds to take down a Concord Command ship, only to fail spectacularly.

There have been reports of Concord ships being destroyed since, but those were in most cases regular Concord ships, not a Command variant that comes with Jovian tech aboard. Only in one cases a possible Concord Command ship has been destroyed.
During the Battle of Caldari Prime, the Shiigeru shot down a Concord ship, refusing to stand down by order of Concord, resulting in the fabled fight over Caldari Prime. Do note that in this particular case, a 'Marshall' class Command ship was destroyed. It is unknown if they carry the same loadout as the Concord Command ships piloted by the Concord Police commanders.

Do note that most capsuleer ships that break Concord law get destroyed by the regular Concord Police ships. Only when you are able to outlive the initial wave of Concord ships, the Command ship initiates the attack, spelling certain doom for your ship.

For a more behind-the-scene look, you can consult this article: Eve History: Zombies defied Concord, leading to their revamp

Thursday 25 September 2014

Freeing slaves, the first step of many...

To free a slave is just the first step

It often happens that once slaves are freed, they are left to their own devices. But alas, freeing slaves is not an endgoal, it's only the first step of many to grant people like this a good life. Often, freed slaves end up as pawns in criminal organisations or cheap labour by opportunistic corporations if they are not assisted.
This assistance is needed to help these freed slaves cope with a life where they have control over their own lives, no longer dependant on a master. On top of this, they need guidance to understand all the protocols & customs of their new home in order to find a job & get settled in. This in turn will also protect them from malicious elements who want to take advantage of them.

Alas, many of these freed slaves are stranded in trade-hubs, without a glimmer of hope for a new & bright future. Here they turn into homeless, refugees or petty criminals... This life of misery also makes them vulnerable to the 'Holder's Grasp' syndrome, where they yearn to be a slave again, where they had a roof over their head & regular food.

Taking the next step, for a better future

As capsuleer Khaprice of the Sebiestor Tribe saw a group of these poor souls begging for a coin, she took an impulsive decision. She wanted to offer these people a bright future, not one wrought in misery after they had the brief happiness of having escaped slavery...
So she called on her wealth & influence as capsuleer, gathering info of recently freed slaves in various trade hubs. To her dismay she noticed quite some freed slaves were left to fetch for themselves once their 'liberators' had been praised in the media...

Determined to make a difference, she visited various trade-hubs across the Eden cluster, gathering as many abandoned freed slaves as she could, offering them a new chance. As she travelled, she gathered more & more freed slaves, all willing to take up her offer, a way out of misery and towards the future they were promised upon liberation.
As Khaprice had gathered tens of thousands of freed slaves, she decided to fulfill her impulsive promise & decision to help them, sending the freed slaves to the Aurora Arcology Project.
As Aurora Management accepted these new people into the project, they promised to capsuleer Khaprice that these people will be assisted to give their lives the start it deserves.

Ensuring a bright future for freed slaves

And with her selfless act, capsuleer Khaprice of the Sebiestor Tribe assured that tens of thousands of freed slaves will be spared a life of misery. I like to thank her for her trust in the Aurora Arcology.
Always keep in mind, if you free slaves, make sure they receive assistance so they can get the best start possible for their new lives. If you cannot provide them this guidance, please consider enlisting the aid of organisations who can help these people after they've been liberated from slavery!

Know organisations:

A minmatar organisation run by Ston Momaki, they do their best to help former slaves & freed slaves alike through their various matriculation centers. While considered controversial by some organisations & capsuleers, the Disciples of Ston nonetheless have built up the most experience in helping former slaves into their new lives as free people.

Aurora Arcology Project

Well, that's us. The Aurora Project aims to provide all with a new & fresh start in their lives, with our guidance to support them.
While the Aurora Project lacks the extensive knowledge of the Disciples of Ston, it compensates by the wide array of employment options they can get within the Arcology & related projects. This makes sure that most of their skills & interests concerning employment is covered.


Sending liberated slaves to either of these two organisations assures that you give them the option to lead a high quality life, away from misery.
If you are aware of other organisations who guide former slaves on their path to enjoy a life of freedom, please inform us & they'll be added to this list, after they granted permission of course.

Tuesday 23 September 2014

New Eden Capsuleer writing contest! Deadline 15 October!

Lady Lunarisse Aspenstar announced a writing contest for capsuleers. The writing contest aims for a wide range of participants. What you send in may be a story, a poem or an article. It may be fiction or non-fiction. No minimum length either!
 So let your creativity speak, pen down that story or poetry you always wanted to write and send it to  Lunarisse Aspenstar by mail to join the contest! You can find the announcement here: New Eden Capsuleer Writing Contest

The only rules that have to be followed are this:
-Maximum 30.000 words
-It must be sent in before 15 october. (Deadline! entries after this date are no longer considered)
-Submissions must be sent to Lady Lunarisse Aspenstar. (Contact: Lunarisse Aspenstar) If your submission exceeds Galnet mail limit, contact Lady Aspenstar to inform her of this, a possible alternate place for publication is the Fiction Board. I do stress, if you want your publication considered for this contest; MAIL Lunarisse Aspenstar!

Thanks to a variety of sponsors, the prizes & benefits of this writing contest are many. Due to this, there's a large list of winning prizes! Up to 15 contestants can win a prize for their winning entry!

The sponsors so far for this event are:
-Norris Ellis, CEO of the Venture Racing Team and a Manager of Eve Online Hold'Em
-Ishuk-Raata Enforcement Directive, a major player in Capsuleer State matters with strong ties to the State Megacorporation Ishukone
-Custom Clothing Productions, a rising star in the fashion business

Winning Prize list
First prize is 600,000,000 isk
Second prize is 325,000,000 isk
Third prize is 150,000,000 isk
Fourth prize is 50,000,000
Fifth through Tenth prizes will be 20,000,000 isk.*
Eleventh through Fifteenth Prizes will be 1,000,000 isk.*
*If the quality of the entries does not merit the number of prizes, then prizes will be given up to the number deemed meritorious.

But you can win more than just isk! All winning entries will be featured in The New Eden Times/Life, published by Lady Evelyn Meiyi, making sure your writing gets the spotlight it deserves.

On top of this, the top 3 winners have the opportunity to give a reading at the Raven Poetry House in the Nahyeen system. For long entries, the reading will focus on the parts you or the readers found the most beautiful.

The highest winning female capsuleer will receive a full ensemble, consisting of a black top, black pants, black tights, shoes & accompanying tattoos. The exclusive "Women's 'Avenue' shirt (Black)" cannot be bought through the capsuleer fashion store! This prize is a donation from Custom Clothing Productions.

A bonus prize is also there, for those entries who amused or entertained Lady Lunarisse Aspenstar the most, as this person gets treated to a dinner with the Lady.

So for all those who enjoy writing, go ahead & participate! For more details & questions just follow this link: New Eden Capsuleer Writing Contest
Update: The winning contestants have been announced, read 'The Golden Masque Wine tasting & Writing contest' article to check out who won!

Monday 22 September 2014

Aurora Arcology welcomes over 12.000 refugees this week!

This week has been a wild ride for the Aurora News division. Due to various circumstances, a few of our stances & rules on publication & participation were bent or lifted! The mad capsuleer Nauplius has been directly and indirectly been responsible for most of these infractions.

Generally, Aurora News avoids running publications on mad capsuleers, as it is believed that giving them attention in the press only furthers their madness...
Capsuleer Nauplius forced us to revision this rule, as he kept on stepping into the light with his announcements on sacrificing slaves for the 'Red God'. He went further than most mad capsuleers, as he followed up on his words and sacrificed ships & build stations to further his belief.
The construction of his second Blood Temple showed he was serious about what he preached. The subsequent rally among capsuleers to defy Nauplius and take down his Blood Temple merited news-coverage.

As I joined the rally against Nauplius' Blood Temple, I could not just sit by idly & observe while others risked their ships for a good cause. Due to the nature & scale of Nauplius' atrocities against slaves, the non-aggression stance usually adopted by Aurora News was lifted, as inaction would give the wrong signal in this particular action.
The full report on the Blood Temple attack can be read here: Blood Raider Temple taken down!

On top of all this, the Aurora Arcology Project took in recently rescued slaves, a change of the usual policy concerning slaves.
Normally, all slaves that are sent to the Arcology are redirected to either their legal owner, or sent to various projects specialized in assisting recently freed or rescued slaves.
Note: Legal owners are Holders or higher ranking officials who are registrered as such in the Amarr Empire, Ammatar space or Khanid Kingdom.
Among the various supporters that we usually sent rescued slaves towards are the Disciples of Ston, who have an impressive track record in helping slaves.

An exception has been made for a group of rescued slaves as they had expressed their desire to find shelter within the Aurora Arcology Project. As these slaves were rescued from a Nauplius' slave transport, the decision to take them in was simplified. The reason being that such people would need extended counselling & long duration treatment to be able to cope with everyday life again. Our previous work with traumatized refugees has given us the expertise to assist these people well.
To guide these rescued slaves into a life of being free people again, we also recruited experienced advisers among the freed slaves, as they know best how life shifts from being property of a master to being a master of your own life.
You can read about these rescued slaves here: Rescued slaves given the chance for a better life!

One last stance that was bent was the one on publishing unfounded information. Under normal circumstances, I make sure that whatever is publicated on Aurora News has a solid foundation based in information & fact.
However the recent leaking of a Republic RSS intel document forced us to call in an exception. The reason for this was that public attention for it has been low, despite that the leak might hint at upcoming troubles related to the Minmatar Republic. To increase public awareness, Aurora News decided to run an article on this leaked document cover despite the lack of information connected to it..
You can read all about it here: Classified Republic Security Services Document surfaced, contents unknown

All these bending of rules & stances did make certain capsuleers call out our journalistic integrity. Lucky most capsuleers understood why we did this & defended us from these accusations. For this, you all have my profound thanks!
It did launch a discussion on what is proper journalistic integrity, a discussion you can join here: Press Ethics - what is acceptable?

Now that this has been covered, onwards to the census report! Many rescuees & refugees have found a new & safe home in the Arcology this week. For this we thank the capsuleers Khaprice, Hoshi Karasawa, Solomon & others!

Regular Civilians

-3 Blood Raider Scientists (Part of the Redemption Program)
-11 Caldari prisoners of War
-100 Homeless
-1.254 Janitors
-445 Prisoners (Part of the Prison Lend-Lease Program)
-1.214 Rescued Slaves (Datafile: Rescued slaves given the chance for a better life!)
-24 Stranded Pilots
-1.568 Tourists
-5.496 Freed Slaves (Datafile: Freeing slaves, the first step of many...)

Pets

-7 Fedos (Datafile:A strange animal)
-2 Miniature Hounds
-67 Hounds

Law Enforcement

-1 Amarr Forensic Investigative Team
-50 Amarr Light Marines
-134 Freedom Fighters
-1.265 Marines
-947 Militants
-66 Slavers (Part of the Redemption Program)

Employees for the Nightclub L'Etoile Rouge

-121 Female Exotic Dancers
-319 Male Exotic Dancers

Councilmembers

-1 Dagan
-1 Fajah Ateshi
-2 Jark Makon
-2 Oura Madusaari (Patients suffering the Oura M. Syndrome)
-4 VIPs

Recently, Aurora Arcology realized that the allotted space for the project is once more insufficient for a growing future. To correct this, negotiations have begun with Caldari Provisions to rent additional parts of their Irjunen station, so we can keep expanding & providing quality assistance & guidance for all refugees & a bright future in their new lives!

Thursday 18 September 2014

Rescued slaves given the chance for a better life!

About Nauplius & the rescued slaves

The Blood Raider extremist Nauplius has gained alot of enemies through his reviled actions, among them the sacrifical killing of over a million slaves for his 'Red God'. Due to this, there's several mercenary contracts running against him, warranting a payout on the destruction of his ships and/or his death.

About a month ago, Stormcrows attacked a transport piloted by Nauplius as part of their mercenary contract. Upon inspecting the wreckage, it was discovered it was a slave transport! In the attack, 2034 slaves perished, however 2000 were still alive in an intact bulkhead!
Upon spotting these survivors, the Stormcrow capsuleers immediately called for assistance as their ships were not equipped for such a large rescue-operation. Capsuleer Hoshi Karasawa responded to their call & successfully evacuated the helpless slaves from the wreckage.
You can find more info here: Stormcrows: Killers of 2034 Slaves, where Nauplius attempts to claim moral high ground against the Stormcrows fails as people remind him that his slaves are horribly abused!

Seeking a safe haven

Once the slaves were evacuated to safety, they received medical care to treat the injuries they got due to the attack. During this it was also revealed that the slaves had been physically abused under Nauplius' "care". On top if this, it was revealed that many of them had been made dependant on Vitoc... This would surely complicate matters.
As the rescued slaves were recovering from the attack, capsuleer Hoshi Karasawa sought out the best options for their future.

Going by her own judgement & the suggestion of various other capsuleers, she interviewed several organisations & questioned their capacities, plans & possible futures within these projects. Among the questioned organisations was the Aurora Arcology.
She informed that the slaves would remain with her until they had recovered enough to make a long journey again, a process that would take a few weeks concerning the severity of the injuries some had suffered.
 
The Aurora Arcology & the Republic

In the end, the Aurora Arcology was one of the approved selections for continued guidance of the rescued slaves. Due to this, Arcology management had to call on contacts that could acquire Vitoc, in order to increase the supplies, allowing us for continued treatment of the Vitoc-addicts, preventing their premature death.
On top of this, selected freed slaves within the Arcology have been recruited to assist these rescued slaves to deal with a newfound life where they are no longer property but people who can make their own decisions.
Due to the traumatic experiences of abusive slavery, as practised by Nauplius, the road will be long & bumpy, but it is my hope that with good counselling & guidance, these people will be able to live as a person.
I like to thank Hoshi Karasawa for her trust in our organisation!

As the slaves were all Minmatar, the Republic also joined the list of places the rescued slaves wanted to live once they had recovered enough. This opportunity to join the Republic will occur through Gradient, with capsuleer Anabella Rella as their intermediate contact. The rescued slaves that wish to join the Republic will receive appropriate assistance through the Relocation centers that Gradient runs to integrate former slaves into the Republic. Seeing what their Tribal brothers & sisters are capable of once they live in freedom will surely inspire them as well!

The future of these rescued slaves look bright! A chance on a normal life, after all the atrocities they had to endure under the extremist slaver Nauplius is the least they deserve.

Tuesday 16 September 2014

Classified Republic Security Services Document surfaced, contents unknown

The leaked part of the document, revealing the cover

Cover of the leaked document: an analysis

Well, this part is straightforward, analyzing what's on the document, seeing what it could possibly mean.
Do note, large parts of it are estimations and thereby not facts! This is merely to see what the document is about and what it possibly links towards.
The leaked document was found by N'maro Makari in a public data channel.

-Republic Security Services (RSS)
The intelligence agency of the Minmatar Republic, safeguarding their Freedom through covert operations. They are controversial however for having strong ties with underworld elements.

-Classified
Well, self explanatory, it's only meant for approved personnel, which obviously doesn't include us. If by chance you are authorized to read this, you can contact Aurora News to share some deeper insights about this document!

-Archive + numbers
Possibly the document ID, or a reference to an ID of an archived document. The 111 might point to YC 111, as it appears later as well.
One of my contacts informed me that the number 30003471 is the ID number of the system Konora.

-RSS Intelligence - Huggar Division
Might refer to which division within the RSS the document was meant for or is relevant for. Can also be the division that assigned the tasks laid out within the document.

-DED Reference + numbers
DED is short for Directive Enforcement Department, the CONCORD Police enforcement division, specialized in tracking down & arresting criminals & taking down criminal organisations. The number might relate to a specific DED file or operation.

-Prepared July 29 YC111
An important bit of detail, telling us this document is probably related to something that occurred around this date, either a summary of an occurrence, or a plan of action for a future task, or a report for a variety of reasons.

Possible related events to this document

To keep things simple, I picked events around this date that relate to the Minmatar Republic, as it's a document from the Republic Security service. I like to stress that these are merely theories & calculated guesses and not facts!
The list goes from most likely to least likely, as by the personal opinion of the writer after analysis of the found data.


Konora officals arrested, Thukker Wormhole strategy unveiled! 16 July YC111

This is the most likely event to which the documents refer to, as it contains a variety of elements that would gain the interest of the RSS and it's inclusion in a classified report. Also the number 30003471 is the number ID of the system Konora!
The short gist is this: Officials in the Konora system co-operated with a renegade Angel group in orchestrating food shortages, giving way to extreme profits with food on the black market. Any protests were repressed violently.

Once Republic & Thukker forces found out about this, a military action was set up to drive out the renegade Angels and return law & order to the Konora system. Through the use of existing Wormholes, the Thukker fleet was able to launch a surprise attack, giving the Angel fleet no chance to react timely.
The few renegade Angel ships that managed to escape the assault were destroyed by Angel Cartel ships who were waiting at the escape routes into deep space. As reason they stated that these renegade Angels 'broke the Cartel Code'. Their presence was seen as more than mere coincidence, giving way to the rumour that they had been informed prior of this operation.

The following articles give an overview of the Konara incident:
1) Unrest in Konora Over Food Shortages, Two Dead in Rioting
2)Angels Bring Food to Konora, Assert Control Over Colonies
3)Pro-Republic Protests Suppressed, Dozens Feared Dead
4)Minmatar-Thukker Task Force Drives Renegade Angels out of Konora
5)Konora Officials Arrested on Corruption Charges, Thukker 'Wormhole Strategy' Revealed
These 5 articles paint the full image of the Konara incident, involving a rogue Angel splinter group & corrupt Republic officials!


Abel Jarek dies in attack 31 July YC111

Abel Jarek was a former slave who preached the Amarr Faith in the Republic. As leading member of the Salvation Crusade, he used the influence he gained through his followers to establish several controversial townships.
This eventually lead to the attack on a township where he was killed. Considering Abel Jarek's profile & the controversy that he spread through his preaching of the Amarr faith, it's very likely that the RSS had a file on him.

A followup on the above report can be found here: Minmatar Converts Deeply Concerned by Jarek Killing, Political Rights Demanded, where the Minmatar following the Amarr faith express their concerns about the investigations into Abel Jarek's death.
As can be read in Sanmatar Shakor Delays Tribal Assembly, Returned Tribes 'Need More Time', the death of this Minmatar preacher caused enough ruckus to delay the Tribal Assembly, an act that would surely catch the eye of the RSS.


Classified Pator III Excavation

While unlikely, it might be that an archeological dig or any other form of excavation found something on the planet Pator III, also known as Huggar around the time mentioned on the document cover.
Pator III holds a big significance to the Minmatar, as this was the first planet to be colonized by the Minmatar during their first era of space-exploration. After the Day of Darkness, it was a frequent stop for the Amarr Slave raids.
What does make the planet more interesting however is that there have been found possible signs of an even earlier colonisation attempt, one that would predate the Minmatar by millenia... Any such evidence would surely end up in RSS archives should it be excavated, as most ancient races who could have done this, also possessed advanced technology.


Ishukone to sell Transcranial Microcontrollers to holders at 'bulk rates' 25 July YC111

While not directly related to the Republic, this would be a disturbing development for the Republic nonetheless.
The Cranial Controller is a brain-implant that can be used to control the workforce, an option that is attractive for Holders who like to keep their slaves in check without Vitoc. An earlier publication ties in to this: Theology Council declines to hear Transcranial Microcontroller debate, where the Theology Council declares that the method to control slaves is up to the Holder to choose.
It's unlikely however that the document refers to this, as there are multiple corporations already offering similar devices & this announcement just happened to occur around that date.
Adding to the unlikeliness is the fact most Holders abhor the use of Cranial controllers as reported here: Numerous Holders ban usage of Transcranial Microcontrollers


These are the 4 events & locations the uncovered classified RSS document might relate towards. Hopefully, investigators will be able to confirm or deny certain events, narrowing down what the document might be about!

You can discuss the leaked document here: Possible Leak From Republic Security Services? created by N'maro Makari. This is a thread where capsuleers share their insights & arguments on this classified file! Add your own thoughts to it!

Sunday 14 September 2014

Blood Raider Temple taken down!

Prelude

Blood Raiders always have been a thorn in the side of the Amarr, as they attract a variety of violent & psychotic capsuleers that see justification in their cruelty through the twisted Sani Sabik faith.
Among these, Nauplius has gained infamy among the capsuleer crowd as he claims to be a prophet of their 'Red God', committing horrifying acts in his name... Some examples of his propositions & acts: Stuffing slaves with Inferno, a deadly brain-drug, murdering over a hundred-thousand slaves for his 'Red God' and more...

Ever since his revelation to be a follower of the Blood Faith, Nauplius has been the target of capsuleers, attempting to cull his 'message from the Red God'. This even led to certain capsuleer organisations putting a bounty on his head, with a full payout on handover of his corpse. There's even talk that a capsuleer, outraged by Nauplius' actions, spared no effort or isk to rally like-minded individuals & organisations behind the cause to stop Nauplius once and for all!

The First Blood Temple

However, Nauplius was hardly slowed by all these actions against him. He even saw it as proof that he was doing the 'Red God's ' work... So he took it a step further, announcing that he would build Blood Raider temples for his 'God' across the cluster, where slaves would be tortured and eventually sacrificed...
Nauplius announcement: The Red God Commands Temple Building

The first temple constructed was taken down easily, a small Blood Raider POS in the Oyemann system. A combined fleet composed of Praetoris Imperialis Excubitoris (PIE) and Imperial Outlaws (ILAW) & other supporters rallied and torn it down: Destruction of the First Nauplius Blood Temple. The imprisoned slaves have been rescued during a PIE boarding operation, as is shown here: Image of the boarding forces, rescuing the slaves

The Second Blood Temple, first attack

However, the destruction of the first temple did not hamper Nauplius. On the contrary, he learned from it. With this acquired knowledge, he constructed a larger Blood Temple dedicated to his 'Red God' & amplified it's defenses! However, under the impulse of capsuleer Daisha Voluptia, member of Imperial Outlaws (ILAW)  the location of this second temple was quickly found.

The initial task force bringing down the shield of the second Blood Temple
image provided by Utsukushi Shi

Upon learning it's location, a new taskforce has been sent out to take it down. This task force was composed of two fleets. The first one was PIE, lead by Fleet Commander Aldrith Shutaq. The second fleet was sent out by ILAW, lead by Katerina Tzestue. Supporters from Stormcrows & Societas Imperialis Sceptri Coronaeque (SFRIM) joined these fleets as well. Esna Pitoojee also joined the taskforce as independent supporter. The fleet would strike shortly after midnight on 13 September.

Upon arrival, there was no opposition present, the Blood Temple just floated there, unopposed. Without further delay, the fleets opened fire, intending to destroy this abomination as soon as possible!
Initially the shields whittled away slowly, making them believe this Blood Tower would fall as easily. However, when the shields reached minimum threshold it went into reinforced mode! This displayed to the attackers that Nauplius has learned from his previous experiences... Upon discovering this, the taskforce had to break off the attack & prepare for another go in a few days...
Hopefully without Nauplius gathering backup in the meantime, because the element of surprise has been lost now!

The Second Blood Temple, final attack

Alerted by the first attack, Nauplius broadcasted to various capsuleer channels about the upcoming attack that would surely come to take down his precious Blood Temple! It is assumed that this publicity was done in the hope of attracting thugs & criminals who would show up, just to have a fight.
Due to this, caution was advised as the second task force was gathered to launch the final attack as there was a risk of complications... On top of this, the timing that the Blood Temple tower came out of reinforcement was also badly scheduled, making it hard to gather capsuleers to assist them in this second assault. But their determination to take this structure down once and for all, allowed them to gather enough pilots in the fleet.

Thanks to the scouting of Samira Kernher, it was revealed there was no sizeable presence at the Blood Temple. The only opposing forces present was Nauplius himself, Clytoneus, a supporter, and Sister Ritual Sacrifice of the Church of the Crimson Saviour, a known Blooder organisation.
Upon hearing this positive report, Fleet Commander Ascentior of PIE gave the fleet permission to travel to Halmah, where Nauplius' Blood Temple was located.

This second assault fleet was composed of a variety of organisations, sharing the same goal, to take down the Blood Raider Temple! These capsuleer groups are: PIE, ILAW, Stormcrows, SFRIM, IRED & Pyre. Adding to this fleet were also a few individual supporters who were as dedicated to bringing the Temple down.

At 14H40, 14 september, the attack began! A combined rapid assault from Samira Kernher & Utsukushi Shi took out the first opposant; Ritual Sacrifce! Upon the arrival of the fleet, Nauplius & his supporter fled the field, realizing they lacked the firepower to take them head-on.
The combined fleet focused it's firepower upon the Blood Temple, intending to take it down as fast as they could!

The final assault on Nauplius' Blood Temple, image provided by Utsukushi Shi

As lasers & missiles battered the tower's shields, Nauplius condemned these actions through the local channel, claiming we were all under the spell of Molok the Deceiver! He even went as far as questioning individuals on their involvement in this cause. But the answer they gave him showed they stood as one behind the cause to remove this Blood Raider stain from the universe.
Despite that his Blood Temple was being demolished by the assaulting fleet, Nauplius kept on preaching & condemning the attackers during the whole assault.

"The Lord loosed upon them his fierce anger All of his fury and rage. He dispatched against them a band of Avenging Angels"- The Scriptures, Book II, Apocalypse 10:1
Quoted by Lady Lunarisse Aspenstar upon the destruction of the Blood Temple

And so ended this stain upon civilised space, in a great blinding explosion. Nauplius' Blood Temple was no more..., the final blow dealt by Lord Lucas Raholan.

Now the fleet split up in two parts. The heavy assault wing continued to take down the remaining structures like ECM Batteries & defunct shield hardeners. The other part of the fleet prepared boarding operations to rescue the imprisoned slaves.
They had been warned that Nauplius has stationed marines, hounds & slavers to defend his sacrificial slaves from being liberated. With this in mind, Imperial transports approached the hangars, ready to deploy their large boarding regiments against these brainwashed defenders.

The boarding operation was a success & many thousands of slaves have been freed, despite the heavy opposition provided by the fanaticism of Nauplius' defenders. Samira Kernher has stated that they will grant all rescuees medical aid & time to recover, irrelevant of their status due to the cruel captivity these people had to endure.
The one bright point in all this is that most of the freed slaves are not Vitoc-dependant, as they were meant to be sacrificed...

Amarr Victor! Aftermath of the battle, taking down the last defensive structures.
 Image provided by Marcus Gord

Aftermath

Many wonder what will happen to Nauplius after he has been found guilty of such cruelty against baseliner humans. The sad truth is, that nothing official will happen.... Capsuleers have been placed above most laws & are expected to police themselves... This policy can be extremely frustrating when faced with capsuleers like Nauplius.

The bright point in all this is that capsuleers from various organisations can band together & fight as one when the cause is just! The takedown of two of Nauplius Blood Towers in 3 attacks proves that it can endure over longer duration as well!

As for my role in all of this? Normally I remain neutral as reporter of Aurora News Networks. However, exceptions can be made on a case by case basis. In this case the extremism of Nauplius' Blood Raider faith created such exception, as slowing down his operations would help people staying out of his cruel grasp.

Images & information of this combat operation are freely available on these links:

Confirmation of the Blood Temple Destruction : listing the damage done by all involved.

Image-Album provided by Utsukushi Shi : The first 5 images are from the second assault on Nauplius' Blood Temple, the rest are from the first attack.
Image-Album by Jandice Ymladris: A series of images showing the second assault, from the start to the cleanup of structures afterward

Over 10.000 refugees arrive at the Aurora Arcology

It's been a busy few weeks, but it's back to normal now! Not that many arrivals this time, despite the long time after the previous census report. However, things will surely pick up again!

The news article 'Revenant Carrier destroyed as promotional stunt by Eve-Bet!' has been a smash hit among capsuleers across the cluster! Racking up more views then any other individual report! Results like this, along with the compliments received, assure that our news department will continue to do their utmost best to bring you the latest in capsuleer news across empire space & beyond!

On a different note, two of our articles have seen a surge in readership due to recent events. First one is 'When Nightmares turn reality, The Sansha Invasion' giving a detailed view on the first large scale attacks of Sansha's Nation upon Eden, as people gained renewed interest after Kuvakei's forces had a change in their warfare doctrine.
The other one is 'The Empire Titans, when big isn't big enough!' sharing the known information we have on the massive Iapetan Titans. Due to a few recent discussions on the capsuleer message boards, it has been linked in relevant discussions, attracting a new crowd of readers!
Thanks to all those who linked our articles to these arguments!

Now onward to this week's census report! With thanks to various capsuleers, thousands once more found their path to a better life in the State!

Regular Civilians

-3 Blood Raider Scientists (Part of the Redemption Program)
-335 Homeless
-2.425 Janitors
-10 Prisoners (Part of the Prison Lend-Lease Program)
-50 Refugees
-4 Scientists
-2.146 Tourists
-2.174 Freed Slaves

Pets

-2 Fedos (Datafile:A strange animal)
-111 Hounds

Law Enforcement

-1.113 Freedom Fighters
-1.187 Marines
-165 Militants
-199 Slavers (Part of the Redemption Program)

Employees for the Nightclub L'Etoile Rouge

-280 Female Exotic Dancers
-544 Male Exotic Dancers

Councilmembers

-2 VIPs

Once again, the Minmatar recruited a high number of Freedom Fighters for their militia... Despite warnings & even a temporary recruit stop in the past...
With the lessons learned by Pieter Tuulinen's security force deployment aboard the Arcology Station, a recruit stop has been placed in immediate effect for the Minmatar security force & a request to justify this steep increase of their security forces...

Abandoned Wormhole System

A few days back, I was travelling through lowsec space, seeking out abandoned sites to explore for their riches. But as the day went on, no sites were scanned. The only thing my exploration ship ran in were wormholes...

Failing to locate the usual data & relic sites, I decided to jump in the nearest wormhole connection, seeing what was on the other side. perhaps a faraway link to another system in the cluster, or maybe a link to one of the numerous & mysterious Wormhole systems? Where sleepers guard their structures since millennia past?

Taking the blind jump through, the computer systems fail to identify the destination system, signalling I'm in one of the mysterious Wormhole systems, cut off from civilisation & Concord regulations...
A rapid scan unveils alot of sites & a Pilot Owned Structure & a few ships. Investigating the sleeper sites confirms my suspicion that my exploration frigate is unable to handle the large sleepers guarding these places, so shifting my focus to the POS & the scanned ships. However, seeing these age-old sleepers patrol... Running their ancient automated guardian protocols for what could be millenia always gave me an itchy feeling... as if we don't belong here...

Hinting at the number of visible sleeper sites, there's a chance the POS is no longer operational, giving an opportunity check for any valuables left behind! After all, for each successful group in the wormhole systems, there's many that fade in the dark, unable to find & capitalize on these riches... After all, Wormholes are home to the shattered dreams & lost hopes of disillusioned capsuleers who found out that settling deep space to become wealthy isn't so easy....
Approaching the scanned down POS, I rapidly found out it's abandoned, only housing a few ships. A Velator frigate, a Tarya transport and the main prize! A Crane blockade runner was also present & unguarded!

After an initial inspection of the ships, it was discovered none of them carried cargo. However, the Velator held a lone abandoned survivor... A janitor, left behind by his former employers when they left the system.
Coupled with his tales & the presence of the Crane, it's reasonable to assume the wormhole system was only abandoned a short while ago.
Shortly after claiming anything of value, I made the trip back to known space, leaving behind the Velator & Tarya. The Crane blockade runner however accompanied me back home, along with the rescued janitor! Such an advanced ship is always a nice catch to find! And the janitor can once more enjoy life in civilized space!

And so I left this wormhole system again... once more it was empty of any capsuleer presence, leaving behind the sleepers in their desolation and the POS & its remaining ships all alone, a metallic witness to the shattered dreams & lost hopes that claimed many a capsuleer in wormholes... Any future visitor to this system would never know I was here prior...

Wednesday 10 September 2014

A thanks to all readers & supporters for making Aurora News the success it is today!

Prelude

About a year ago, I launched this news site. Originally it was meant to keep people who supported the Aurora Arcology project informed about the refugees & rescuees they sent our way.
In these humble beginnings, I had no idea to what it would grow to be. From a small local site with a handful of capsuleer readers to one where people anticipate it's latest publication on a recent event by the hundreds.

It's thanks to all of you who read it & spread the word about Aurora News that I took the effort to keep it pushing forward. As more people read it, I put in more effort, culminating into attracting even more readers!
From doing my best to eliminate my numerous typo's to adding links & images to reports, it all helped in bringing about a more clear news site, reporting on what you as capsuleers are doing in Empire space & beyond!

So lets have a trip through memory lane, from the early days of the Aurora News to today's state!


Early days

The first articles about a year ago showed alot of amateurism & typo's (which have been cleaned out now), but as some said, it showed great promise.
These early articles all involved the refugees & rescuees in one form or another, from the immigration reports to more detailed info about their rescue. It also contained background information on the Aurora Arcology Project itself. At this time, readership was only a handful, mainly the capsuleers that contributed to the Aurora Arcology Project.
An example of an early report: Molden Heath refugees detailing the origin of a group of refugees the Aurora Arcology received

During these early days, the announcement that the Aurora Arcology was going to back up a colonisation effort; 'Outcome of the Colony Survey Report' was the first article that drawed in new readers, paving the road to a growing success....


Growth & success

As more people found their way to the Aurora News, there was also a growing demand to report on events beyond the scope of the Arcology & it's projects.
Among these first non-Arcology related articles was the report on the capsuleer gathering at the Elokur trial: Minmatar/Gallente protests in Synchelle for Elokur's Trial!
This article opened us to a wider crowd, attracting dozens of new readers! Back then a big influx but little did I know it was just the first step of a major growth!

Only a month later, another news article, reporting on anarchistic capsuleers would draw in close to a hundred readers! People enjoyed reading about dumb capsuleers getting a good pounding from Concord officials. Capsuleers fail to organize a gank on Concord proved to be a new milestone that was a gateway to the first success-story that opened Aurora News to the general Capsuleer audience...

And so we arrived at the first major success of Aurora News... The report on the Ghost event: Capsuleers respond en masse to the Call for arms, the Navies fail to assist! The moment I published this, you readers & supporters did the rest! The article spread like wildfire among the capsuleer community, thousands read it, commented on it across various threads on the capsuleer message boards.
Part of the success can be explained due to it's different viewpoint, while most news-sites reported on the troubles the fleets faced, I reported on the objectives themselves, an aspect many were interested in, but was practically not reported on.

This article would turn out to be a turning point on how I approached Aurora News. No longer would I focus on local news, directly tied to the Arcology. From then I began focusing more on Capsuleer events & reporting on those.
This turn of focus was greatly appreciated by you, as more people stuck around, reading the various news articles. From a handful of readers at start, there were now a few dozen following the Aurora News, with spikes to hundreds when major news or background information was released like : The Fedo, a strange animal


Steady State News

Over the course of the next few months, readership would remain stable as I wrote about various capsuleer events, from I-RED Flagship inauguration  to capsuleer celebrations like the Caldari Prime Battle Memorial. they were interwoven with smaller articles like Wormholes, shattered dreams & lost hopes.

During this period, readership showed a slow but steady growth, as I reported on various events across the cluster. The variety of news subjects was apparently appreciated by you, the readers.
The only anomaly during this steady period was the Jovian article: Shrouded in mystery, the Jovian race as it was shared & read by hundreds, showing you people enjoyed my articles & spread them when they thought their friends would enjoy a good informative read.

But it all changed when the State announced a manhunt on the Provists...


Hunting for news & professionalism of reporting

When the Provist manhunt was announced, I decided to take a big chance & devote alot of time to this upcoming event. The goal was to report on the various Provist engagements as detailed as possible, making Aurora News the prime source for valid & checked information.
Considering I had a core of a few dozen readers by now, this was an ambitious goal. Previous reports had shown that good articles were often shared to a large community, but I had no idea how readers would react on seeing only one news subject for a week on end, with nearly daily reportings...

Would you only read a few, skipping reports as it all was just 'capsuleers fighting Provists' or maybe my writing wouldn't be sufficient to keep you people interested for a week on end about the same subject of Provist hunting? I had no idea, but I hoped I was good enough to keep at least a core of readers happy.

Turns out my fears were unfounded, as you lot jumped on it & eated it all up! From the first report 'Caldari Navy organizes a manhunt on Provist Raiders!' to the final conclusion 'The Provist Manhunt Summary' they all were a smashing success, every report drawing in more readers! The popularity of this story went beyond all my expectations, thanks to all the people who supported me with this, from giving inside info on certain attacks to sharing the articles with your fellow capsuleers. It all contributed to make it such a widespread article, enjoyed by thousands, making me realize how far I've grown from a humble news-site to this fore-front news agency!

To this day, the Provist Manhunt news series remains the most successful story I ever ran. The fact all the effort I put in was so greatly rewarded was a great boon to me, keeping me motivated to run all these detailed articles in short succession. I still have trouble grasping that thousands of capsuleers have read all these articles.
Once more a big thanks to everyone who supported me in one way or another during this, from sharing info & criticism to reading the articles & showing it to others.


A rising summer, spreading the News

Since the Provist Manhunt news series, Aurora News readership jumped up from a few dozen to a solid core of roughly a hundred readers, with spikes to many hundreds of readers on major articles like 'Major tradehubs under attack! Operation 'Burn Jita!' is in effect!',  'When nightmares turn reality: The Sansha invasion' and 'Ushra'Khan liberates slaves in Amarr!'

While no record-setting articles were published over the summer period, I did receive alot of compliments on the quality of writing & reporting (and some criticism on where I could improve). Thanks to this, it keeps me going to write about the various shenanigans capsuleers get themselves involved in, majorly in empire space.
The decision to stick with reporting on events in Empire space is due to the fact that nullsec already has a group of quality news sites that keep their nullsec dwellers informed on what happens out there
.
This line of thinking was what caused my biggest missed opportunity... Not reporting on the Alliance Tournaments... I believed that the Nullsec groups would do their best to keep their audience informed on how the various teams would perform. In the end I was proven wrong & people asked why I didn't cover the AT as they wanted to see my take on it & hoped I would do summaries of the various team-battles.
While it was too late for me to correct this fault, I do promise I will cover the next year Alliance Tournament! These requests made me realize I had found my own niche in covering news, one people enjoyed reading about.

Despite this mishap, readership kept growing as I reported on various capsuleer events & lore articles during the Alliance Tournaments, offering people something else to read than AT coverages.


Today & the future

And so we arrive to this article that follows my biggest success to date; 'Revenant Carrier destroyed as promotional stunt by Eve-Bet!' While the Provist Manhunt news series is still the most read, this Revenant article beaten it by a mile on per-article readership as thousands read it!
No idea what lasting effects the Revenant report will carry, but I still thank everyone who took out their time for reading the (sometimes lengthy!) articles I published.

I like to thank you readers & supporters for your continued trust in my ability to write decent articles. The fact that Aurora News now has a sponsor in the form of EOH Poker (Eve Online Hold'Em; Play real poker for isk!) & features in Pandora News as one of the main sources of capsuleer related news shows how far Aurora News has come since it's early days.
If you enjoy a different style of reporting from my hand, you can visit the Coffee Rocks news site where I'm part of the writer staff since the end of this summer. I thank the owner, Coffee Rocks, for his confidence in my ability to write decent articles.

This growth & popularity I never envisioned when I started on this journey of reporting the news, but became reality thanks you you all! Your comments, criticism, praises & compliments is what kept me going, motivating me to improve on how I reported on various events & such.
Hopefully this trip through the history of Aurora News gave you a deeper insight on how I work & what you might expect from future articles.
I always appreciate tips for improvements. Also hints at upcoming events are always appreciated!

Where we will be a year from now, I don't know, but as long as I have got you readers on my side, it will be an enjoyable journey through all the chaos & celebrations capsuleers will cause in the Eden cluster!

Saturday 6 September 2014

Revenant Carrier destroyed as promotional stunt by Eve-Bet!

Prelude

Ever since the shutdown of  the Blink gambling site since Concord Command Personnel (CCP) arrested its owner Somer, many gambling sites attempted to claim this marketshare for themselves. From launching promotional campaigns to high chance rounds, they attempt to attract the former Blink customers to their venues.

In light of this, Eve-Bet decided on organizing a large scale & expensive stunt to grab the attention of capsuleers across the cluster! They would deploy a Revenant Carrier to be shot at by capsuleers in a lowsec system. These Revenant Carriers are extremely rare & expensive and are of Sansha design, sporting advanced technologies. To deploy such ship to be destroyed would surely attract massive attention, and it did!

EvE Bet announced that on 5 september YC116 at 22H they would deploy this revenant carrier, for capsuleers to shoot at & win prizes! More info can be found here: A Sacrifice to the Gods of Eve (Eve-Bet site) & Sacrifice to the Capsuleers of New Eden (Forum)
For the more technical aspects of this battle you can visit : The Nisuwa Revenant Kill Event

Hi ho! Hi ho! Its off to battle we go!

Spectre Fleet undocking at Amarr, causing a traffic jam! Image by Jon Illat

As the hour of the event came closer, corporations, alliances & mixed fleets all across the cluster geared up for battle. Downing a capsuleer Revenant is a rare thing, as there has only been one destroyed prior, namely a Pandemic Legion Revenant, destroyed in Placid last year. Now capsuleers had a unique opportunity to destroy another of these rare super carriers!

When Nisuwa was announced on 21H as the target system, thousands of ships undocked across the Eden cluster, throwing Traffic Control off guard. This caused delays all across the cluster as capsuleers made their way to the Nisuwa system.
As reports began flooding in of traps & massacres, it became apparent that many capsuleers relied on their auto-plotter to set out a route, sending them through Tama. Under normal circumstances, Tama is already a dangerous system, being a gateway into low. But that day, it was an outright death-trap!
Many capsuleers got caught in the massive gatecamp, but many more survived as there were more targets present then the gatecampers could shoot, allowing them to continue their way to Nisuwa!

Once arriving in Nisuwa, things heated up. While many of the more organized fleets sought out a secure location to await the arrival of the Revenant, several fleets acted on the rumour that it would arrive at the Nisuwa station.
As more & more folks jumped to the station, the fighting grew along with it, albeit the station guns did keep the aggression down as they fired at any aggressors. However, once the Russian combined fleet jumped in, they cleared the area of all aggressors with their Tornado's & Talwars and claimed dominance on the grid.
The station fight was not an isolated incident, as fights broke out all across the system. Many of the gates saw combat, as people warped in & got greeted by those already present. The chaos did add fuel to the fire, as the gatefights often ended up in multi-way fights. Also various 'easy' safespots saw hostile action as well, as roaming fleets searched out the weaker fleets to engage in combat.

Carrier has arrived!

As the hour of the Revenant's arrival came closer, people got all hyped up in local, all spamming Dscan but also spreading disinformation. Among one of these was the appearance of a cyno, causing alot of people to flock to this beacon!
But then word got out! The Revenant was sighted in the system! It actually arrived a mere 100 km from my cloaked reporter ship... giving me a front seat view of the unfolding glorious chaos that this battle would bring!

In only a matter of minutes, massive fleets from various alliances, corps & mixed organisations warped in! The site just exploded in activity! One moment there was only a handful of ships, the next, thousands!
And still, more and more capsuleers flocked to the system, putting Concord's traffic control to the limits & beyond! As the Concord capsuleer monitoring network was pushed beyond its limits, capsuleers kept jumping in, all wanting to claim a piece of the Revenant!

Determined to eliminate competitors, they all engaged each other. The ensuing chaos was colossal, leading to fights that sometimes spanned over a dozen fronts for certain fleets!The less organized fleets were the first to go down. However, many of the more established uniform alliance & corp fleets also  received their share of attention! Many of the 'big boys' were present: Goonswarm, Test, Pandemic Legion, Brave Newbies, Black legion, Waffles, RAZOR, RvB, Eve-Uni and many more!

Among all this fighting & chaos, one form of organized fleets escaped alot of aggressive attention from others while they continued their attacks. These are the NPSI fleets, organized fleets that are composed by a large variety of corporations & alliances. These organized fleets were Spectre, Redemption Road & the Russian Fleet chief among them.

All these fleets attacking each other & the Revenant provided for a colossal chaotic firefight... Not all fighting centered on the Carrier however, as the Cyno beacon proved to be an excellent second hotspot for combat, where Spectre took control over the battlefield.

Burn them! Burn them all!

Spectre Fleet initiating attack run! Image by Sleightz

And so it begins... hours upon hours of fleet combat, between thousands of capsuleers and their ships, from frigates to capital ships! No detailed combat reports exist from this stage of the fight, as it was just one ball of chaos & firepower. Fleets warping in, fleets warping out, guns cycling, drones flying, missiles striking.
Some fleets couldn't handle the chaos, withdrawing as they couldn't get a good look at the situation, but frankly, no-one could due to the massive number of capsuleers present and the large variety of fleets.

The fight at the Cyno beacon would be concluded first, as Spectre had estabilished dominance there, allowing them to take out anyone who attempted to challenge them. They even managed to take out a Thanatos that had arrived on the field without a support fleet for reasons unknown : Thanatos Down! This would turn out to the top killmail for this event, outside the Revenant supercarrier!

Revenant under siege, image by Arpeggi42

Meanwhile, the combat around the Revenant was still in full swing, no fleet managed to establish permanent supremacy. To complicate issues further, additional fleets jumped, in, like Elite Mining Services, Ev0ke, Synergy of Steel and more.
As the slaughter continued, hundreds of ships were destroyed every passing hour! As the death toll rapidly rose up, the Revenant supercarrier suddenly started taking alot more damage! It seemed that its defensive systems had failed or just stopped working!
Acting on this, many capsuleers changed targets to the revenant, all hungry to get a chance on the prizes handed out by Eve-Bet!

And so, the supercarrier finally went down in a great blinding explosion, targeted by hundreds, maybe even a thousand capsuleers! An official Killmail cannot be provided as Concord suffered a massive data overload that crushed their kill registry servers in an attempt to create this datafile. However, an unofficial killmail datafile has been generated: Revenant kill list: Over 3700 capsuleer attackers listed, file provided by NullSecHobo.
But the fighting was far from over... The Revenant was dead, but the system was still home to thousands of bloodthirsty capsuleers, out for blood & revenge, as many enemies has gathered here at the same location & the gates were still under lockdown by various fleets.... Getting in wasn't easy... but getting out would prove to be even harder...

Let the cleansing begin!

And so the fight endured, Goons fighting Test, Test fighting Pandemic Legion, PL fighting Eve-Uni, Eve-Uni fighting Brave and so on. Many also attempted to withdraw from combat, only to get caught by chasing fleets or gatecamps on the other side.
The chaotic fighting would last for hours on end, leading to the destruction of hundreds of ships. This mess was fueled by many of the smaller groups joining the action, making the chaos complete. There have been reports of friendly fire and accidental smartbombing of friendlies during this period as Fleet commanders struggled to keep control over the situation & getting correct info to base their decisions on. In the end, Test alliance fleet managed to slowly gain control over the battlefield, destroying the others or just routing them. But it would only last a short time...

Then a new contender showed up, all ready for combat & kills! The Quantum Cats Syndicate joined into the fray, their goal: eliminate the stragglers & severely weakened fleets. The arrival of this fresh & strong fleet was too much for the battered combatants who could barely resist against their vulture tactics.
For hours on end, QCATS would hunt down & kill hundreds of ships & their capsuleer pilots with little resistance. The weakened fleets had no response to this new threat, but to flee from them. QCATS successfully chased out or hunted down many ships from the larger alliances that are feared by others.

The only group that managed to stand their ground was Eve-Uni, who had regrouped after suffering a series of losses earlier. Once they were ready, they adapted the Quantum Cats Syndicate tactic of vulture combat, chasing after weakened targets and taking them down!

And so the combat finally died down, hours after the Revenant was destroyed. Quantum Cats Syndicate would still chase stragglers all day long however, teaching them what happens when you trespass one of their staging system without their permission.

The aftermath

All in all, the Revenant Destruction promo campaign by Eve-Bet turned out to be a massive success, seeing close to 5000 capsuleers present in the system, all ready to pounce on this unique opportunity to take out one of the rarest capsuleer-flown ships, the Revenant Supercarrier.
Other gambling sites will have a hard time to beat this promotional campaign for attention!

As noted, no fleet managed to obtain dominance on the Revenant combat grid due to the heavy fighting that went on. There were just too many fleets present, anyone who would claim dominance would attract the attention of others, nullifying their supremacy.
While alot of the large uniform alliance & corp fleets have suffered quite some losses, the NPSI fleets reported a surprising lack of losses. While they did lose ships, it was far below their expectations. This might be due to their fleet members being a mix of various capsuleer organisations, causing them not to appear as a coherent bloc on scanners and such and thereby attract less attention than a uniform alliance or corp fleet.

The battle itself is among one of the largest battles fought in a single system. The variety of fleets attacking each other did create an untangleable mess of a fight however, where it's hard to discern any details from. Add to this that initially Eve-Bet faced a few communication issues at start, allowing hostile elements to spread disinformation and the chaos was complete.

The high load on the Capsuleer monitoring servers did create alot of issues, causing capsuleers to go in lockdown mode and their ships travelling automatically to a safe location to systems receiving conflicting commands, resulting in unresponsive weapons, engines & defenses.

The combat at end was interesting as well, as QCATS arrived fresh on the field, clearing up anyone who was still present. They didn't go head on with fleet fights, but rather picked apart anyone who got separated from their main fleets, an occurrence that was all too common after hours of combat. Only Eve-Uni managed to avoid being picked apart by QCATS as they successfully reorganized themselves & even went to hunt down stragglers themselves in a cohesive fleet.

More info & different viewpoints can be found here:

Revenant kill list: Over 3700 attacking capsuleers listed! This is an unofficial list! However it's doubtful an official Concord mail will be there, as their killmail servers crashed on the massive data overflow caused by 3700 capsuleers attacking a single ship! I thank NullSecHobo for sharing this
vital info.

Detailed information about damage done to the Revenant, provided by Carribean Queen
Big thanks to this capsuleer for organizing vital & detailed info in this file. Will be very helpful in cross-referencing & verifying the damage done by each capsuleer in order to be eligible for the Eve-Bet awards.

Eve-Bet Latest News Shows the prize distribution handout & what community generated Revenant Killmail they used.

Nisuwa system combat report  Warning! Huge! Over 33 pages of combat related to the Revenant combat! See from 5 september to 6 september for all the kills.

Eve-bet revenant promo feedback (forum) with a response from CCP Explorer regarding the server load issues for capsuleers

EVEOGANDA: Live Paint Drying Battle, a news article from capsuleer Rixx Javix, focusing on the extreme Time Dilation that happens when too many capsuleers are present in a system, overloading the capsuleer monitoring servers.



More links will arrive as I attempt to gather additional info. Do expect an update when the Revenant Killmail becomes available. People providing image & video feeds are also welcome! You will be credited for these!