Yup, it’s official.  The Wandering Druid of Tranquility blog is officially 2 years old today.

Happy birthday to you….happy birthday to you….

Wow, where did the time go?  Posts, pages, many theme changes, PvP engagements recounted, patch notes, 3 different corporations player corporations as well as my own stints in my 1 man corporations, alts created.  In real life I got married, changed jobs, upgraded computers, watched a cat grow ill and pass on, found a wonderful puppy (The infernal coconut fluff ball of fury).  The time has just flown by faster than a Polaris class frigate.

Man, it’s been a wild ride,  a lot of fun and I have seen a lot happen in the two years that I have been blogging.  Let’s take a trip down amnesia lane, shall we?

`In those days spirits were brave, the stakes were high, men were REAL men, women were REAL women, and small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri were REAL small furry creatures from Aplha Centauri.’ –Douglas Adams.

I have seen a lot of changes and growth in the EVE community and especially in the EVE blog sphere over the past two years.  More and more people are writing about their experiences in game.  More and more people are sharing their viewpoints on many issues.  The dialogue that has ensued is as varied as the clouds in the sky.  Everyone has a different point of view and everyone articulates it very well.  It’s a collection of verse that makes this powerful play that more enjoyable for everyone.

Do you remember when Innonimate Nightmare  first started posting about his adventures in 0.0 space (http://00experiment.blogspot.com/2006/07/eve-online-00-experiment-post-001.html)?

The objective of this experiment is quite simply to throw him in at the deep end and see how well he survives and to regale and entertain with tales of his outlandish adventures along the way……

And thus, EVE history was made.  Do visit this blog and read through it’s entries.  It may no longer be active, but it’s a great read.

Do you remember when Nexa Necis first shared with the EVE community his now infamous ‘Carebear Playbook’ (http://www.eve-pirate.com/index.php?/archives/828-Sour-Grapes-For-Carebears-Fine-Whines-For-TRAPS.html#extended)?

1. Get war dec’d
2. Laugh at the corp who dec’d you. Talk shit. Lie and cheat if at all possible.
3. If you have died a lot now, think of as many excuses as you can. Hide out. Make threats. Name drop if possible.
4. If you’re still losing 500mil a week from losses, and the corp is offering you 200mil to surrender, don’t accept it. Petition it.
5. Consider starting a new corp or even better, join an alliance. Another option is to stay permadocked.
6. If those aren’t viable options, run and hide in a NPC corp and pray they don’t war dec the next corp you join.

This set of ‘rules’ was the source of many posts on the EVE forums, many people took offense to this list as many war targets fell to the continual attacks of Nexa and her ‘merry men’.

Can you remember when Crazy Kinux first posted his EVE Online Blogroll Lovefest (http://www.crazykinux.com/2008/04/eve-online-blogroll-lovefest.html) and when it was less than 100 entries long?

Can you remember when the NOS/Neut balancing was just a discussion or when the speed and agility balancing was in testing?

Can you remember when EVE blogging was something that only ‘a few’ people were doing?

I’ve been playing for over 3 years now and I can tell you, there has been a lot that has happened in the game.  It’s been a pleasure and an honor to write about it for the past 2 years.  I look forward to seeing what I will be writing about in the next year and beyond.

So, Happy Birthday to The Wandering Druid of Tranquility blog!!!  Here’s to many more entries to come….

Welcome to the ninth edition 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!

“Last month Ga’len asked us which game mechanic we would most like to see added to EVE. This month Keith “WebMandrill” Nielson proposes to reverse the question and ask what may be a controversial question: Which game mechanic would you most like to see removed completely from EVE and why? I can see this getting quite heated so lets keep it civil eh?”

Just a quick note before I begin here.  Since I started all this discussion on game mechanics with the last Blog Banter, I have asked that my post NOT be considered for the Blog Banter Contest.  I honestly do not think it would be fair to everyone, as CK and I work so closely together on maintaining the EVE Blogroll and the OPML download, that I be an eligible participant.  However, I am writing a post for the plain and simple reason that I love writing for the monthly Blog Banter discussions.  So, without further adieu, below is my contribution, enjoy!!!

It seems that I created a monster with the introduction of discussions on game mechanics.  Which game mechanic would I like to see removed from the game and why?  Hmm…that’s a tough question.  I am one of those twisted individuals that enjoys how complex EVE can be.  What can we removed from EVE?  Would it still be EVE if it was removed?

EVE Online is more than just a game, it’s a community that is rich in culture and diverse in opinion.  We have seen many changes in the game over the years, including things removed from the game.  Mines were something that were removed as they were a large contributor to generating lag.  The ability to see faction gear on the market was removed and the contracts system was born.  Speed balancing, NOS balancing, etc…we have seen many changes.

So, what would I removed from the game?  It’s hard to think of something to remove without coming up with something to replace it as a result.   What to remove, what to remove……

Well…there have always been discussions about removing local chat from the game.  Such posts on the EVE forums traditionally become rather heated with equally valid points from both sides of the argument.  I can’t argue this one as I am from the ‘keep local’ camp, sorry…

In my article that lead to this blog banter (http://www.eve-druid.com/wow-that-new-thing-is-so-shiny), I put forth the concept of hackable sentry guns at stargates.  Stargates…..YES!  That’s what I would remove from the game, stargates, definitely.

**Ga’len looks around at the stunned looks from people in the room **

Why?  Well, two reasons.  First, to provide for a space flight experience that you can immerse yourself within and two, my favorite,  reduce in system lag.

**Ga’len looks around at the room again, now everyone has passed out from shock. **

Now, of course, every EVE pilot reading this is asking, “How would you travel between systems without stargates?” Stargates after all were established to provide a means to travel the huge distances between systems.  I am sure that any dev reading this is asking, “How will we effect a session change between star systems, grids and nodes?”

The answer is closer than you think.  Take a moment and step outside, look up and take a gander at that jet plane that may be flying over your home.  How is that jet plane that leaves New York travel all the way to Reykjavik Iceland?  In the old days, a pilot would set a course based on using a single instrument, the compass.  In out present day world, jet planes use a compass, navigation beacons that are on the ground and GPS systems.  Navigation beacons, that’s the answer to travel without stargates and believe it or not, it’s how we can reduce lag in the game.

So tell me, in the time that humans have rediscovered space flight, evolved to produce Tech II ships and modules as well as build ships such as a Titan have we also failed to improve on our warp drive systems?  I would think not.  I would think that we would continue to evolve and make our warp drive faster.  With the vast void between systems, there are fewer and fewer gravity wells from objects that could slow down a warp drive engine.  Within a system, there are planets, asteroids, moons and stations.  Just too many gravity wells for a warp drive engine be able to run at full power.  So yes, I would think that a ’sudden in game event’ that leads to better warp drive should happen so that we can remove stargates.

Capital Ship pilots have jump drives that allow them to travel in a relatively straight line in an instant.  They require the use of another ship sitting in space with an active Cynosaural field to lock onto that beacon and jump.

Why can’t warp drive navigation work in the same manner, where you set your course from Jita to Tash-Murkon Prime based on a universe wide navigational system of beacons.  When you set your course, the distance you can travel based on the energy required to jump you into warp and the active recharge rate of your capacitor would determine which beacons are within your travel range.  You would set course for that beacon and go.  No more inbound and outbound stargates for a system, just a single point where everyone ends up, roughly 15 km from the beacon relative to the direction from which you just traveled.

Now, this is where lag reduction comes into play.  Say you are traveling from Jita to say Emrayur.  The current route would take your through Tash-Murkon Prime.  You would currently jump in the stargate at Bhiz, warp across system and then jump into Emrayur.  Why could you not use the Tash-Murkon Prime beacon as a ‘waypoint’ to help you get into range of the Emrayur beacon.  There would be no need for you to land in Tash-Murkon Prime as you are not stopping there.  If you are not stopping there, then you would never load onto the grid or node.  Having less people in system reduces the lag simply because they are not there.  Having your destination already set on trip would allow for predictive grid loading at your destination.  Such ‘preparation’ for your arrival in reality could reduce the lag you see when you actual load into a system.

Furthermore, with no longer having the same systems be the ‘trade hubs’ due to where they exist on established stargate based travel routes, all star systems with stations have the potential to become important trade hubs.  Having more trade hubs would help to spread out commerce and thus stop the clumping effect of systems like Jita, Tash-Murkon Prime, Hek, etc…Such disbursement of commerce would also help to reduce in system lag and reduce the hold that people may have on a particular area.  No more static markets that newer players have a hard time in which to gain entry.  True market capitalism would be dealt another winning card in game and of course, less people clumped into a system or node, less lag.

Having beacons in the game would could lead to other fun mechanics.  You have jump bridges in 0.0 now for navigation and ease of movement.  Corporations could deploy a corporate beacon at their deployed POS’s to provide additional waypoints beacons for their corp members.  Having such ‘established’ travel routes for corporations would allow pirates some variety in traffic to attempt to catch, etc..

“So Ga’len.  With the removal of those inbound and outbound stargates, will this remove gate camping and piracy?

I would suspect that the role of the traditional gate camper would change and they would have a much harder time of catching someone as they travel ‘through’ a system and not stop at a beacon as it’s not their final destination.

But being a pirate, I have some evil thoughts on this one.  I would introduce a module that creates a ‘ghost beacon’.

What is a ‘ghost beacon’?  Well, how many of us have had trouble with our satellite television or radio due to interference?  A ‘ghost beacon’ would be an electronic warfare type of module that would create interference with communications with a beacon in system.  Such modules could only be operated in systems with a security level of 0.4 or lower as Concord officially disapproves of the use of modules that interfere with navigation.  You would have to be in close proximity to the actual in system beacon.  This module, when active, would begin to mask or steal the signal from a navigational beacon.  As a ship in warp travels closer to where a ‘waypoint’ beacon is located, loss of signal would cause a navigational problem and the ship would simply drop out of warp, say, 15 km from the where the ‘ghost beacon’ ship is located.

Once the ship drops out of warp, it’s able to lock onto the correct navigational beacon again as the interference from the warp drive operation and the ‘ghost beacon’ module are not as strong.  You can then warp out and be on your way, unless the pirates are able to tackle you. This mechanic becomes even more evil in 0.0 space where you can deploy warp bubbles.  An unsuspecting ship would drop out of warp and would become instantly trapped in the warp bubble.

Of course, you would have no way of knowing that a ‘ghost beacon’ is in operation until you came within the 40 km of the ‘ghost beacon’ ship and saw that you were having communication problems.  You could then of course, select to drop out of warp early and re-establish communication with the navigational system.  Flying AFK would still be dangerous as if you did not see the warning of a communication problem, you would not be able to drop out of warp early and would most likely be tackled by pirates, much like flying on autopilot now.

Currently, many people avoid gate camps by looking at the universe map and seeing how many ships were destroyed in a system, this would still provide you the a way to avoid such dangers.  ‘Traffic Piracy’ would not really change much from how it works now save that there would be a single entryway to a system and beacons everywhere save 0.0 space would still have sentry guns.  The use of scouting alts would no longer be very effective as there would be no stargate to scout anymore, however, a scout ship along a well traveled ‘vector’ between popular systems could be staged to identify potential targets that are in warp.

So, there you have it.  Stargates and their current travel mechanic.  Yup, that’s what I would remove.

Please do read these other fine posts on this month’s Blog Banter!!!

1. Diary of a Space Jockey, Blog Banter: BE GONE!
2. EVE Newb, (EVE) Remove You
3. Miner With Fangs, Blog Banter – It’s the Scotch
4. The Eden Explorer, Blog Banter: The Map! The Map!
5. Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah, Kill the Rats
6. Mercspector @ EVE, Scotty
7. EVE’s Weekend Warrior, EVE Blog Banter #9
8. Miner with Fangs, Blog Banter – It’s the Scotch
9. A Merry Life and a Short One, Eve Blog Banter #9: Why Won’t You Die?
10. Into the unknown with gun and camera, Blog Banter – The Hokey Cokey
11. The Flightless Geek, EVE Blog Banter #9: Remove a Game Mechanic
12. Sweet Little Bad Girl, Blog Banter 9: Who is Nibbling at My House?
13. One Man and His Spaceship, Blog Banter 9: What could you do without?
14. Life in Low Sec, EVE Blog Banter #9: Stop Tarnishing My Halo
15. Cle Demaari: Citizen, Blog Banter #9: Training for all my men!
16. A Mule in EVE, He who giveth, also taketh away?
17. Dense Veldspar, Blog Banter 9
18. Morphisat’s Blog, Blog Banter #9 – Randomness Be Gone !
19. Facepalm’s Blog, EVE Blog Banter #9: What a new pilot could do without
20. Memoires of New Eden, You’re Fired
21. Kyle Langdon’s Journeys in EVE, EVE Blog Banter #9 Titans? What’s a Titan?
22. Achernar, The gates! The gates are down!
23. Speed Fairy, EVE Blog Banter #9: Down with Downtime!
24. I am Keith Neilson, EVE Blog Banter #9-F**K Da Police
25. Ripe Lacunae, The UI… Where do I begin… (Eve Blog Banter #9)
26. Clown Punchers, EvE Blogs: What game mechanic would you get rid of?
27. Estel Arador Corp Services, You’ve got mail
28. Epic Slant, Let Mom and Pop Play: EVE Blog Banter #9
29. Deaf Plasma’s EVE Musings, Blog Banter #9 – Removal of Anchoring Delay of POS modules
30. Podded Once Again, Blog Banter #9 – Do we really need to go AFK?
31. Postcards from EVE, 2009.07.02.00.29.06
32. Harbinger Zero, Blog Banter #9 – War Declarations & Sec Status
33. Warp Scrammed, Blog Banter 9 – Never Too Fast
34. More articles as they are posted!

Counting our new additions listed below and a few blogs that were dead links and removed, we now have 500 blogs in the OPML download. Do remember, the EVE Online Blogroll Lovefest that CrazyKinux maintains (http://www.crazykinux.com/2008/04/eve-online-blogroll-lovefest.html) is a listing of blogs that are active. The OPML download has some of the defunct blogs as they are still worth reading if you never had the chance to read them, like the EVE Online 0.0 Experiment (http://00experiment.blogspot.com) and a few others.

To get your blog listed on CK’s Blogroll Lovefest, simply post a comment on the post with your blog’s information. I check his listing from time to time to add blogs to the OPML download. I also add people when I learn about a new blog. If your blog is not listed on the OPML download and you would like it listed, just drop me a line at galen@eve-druid.com and I will get you added.

So, without further adieu, here are our newest members of the EVE Blogging Community!!

• EVE Letters (http://lettersfromeve.wpgmb.ca) A different angle for an EVE blog, worth a gander!!
• Facepalm’s Blog (http://rcurrie.wordpress.com)
• mikeazariah (http://podlogs.com/mikeazariah)

Welcome to the EVE Blogsphere!!!!

I have been spending a nice amount of time playing EVE with my fellow corpies.  General ‘yarring’ about has yielded kills, ransoms (both isk and jokes) and the odd carrier slaughter (http://nspta.net/lacon/?a=kill_related&kll_id=69143).

Our campaign against the ever failfest called United continues.  If they would spend more than five minutes outside a station, we might actually get a fight with them.  As it goes, their operations around the system known as Rancer have slowed considerable.  They do continue to camp the Crilere gate as they are infamously known for, but other than that, they are not very active.  They do come out every now and again, but the good ole “Control Q’s” kick in when we log on or even think of the system name Rancer.  Oh well, we expected nothing less.  The ‘Lords of Otou’ shall continue to rule with the strength and honor for which we have always wielded.

The OPML download has been growing for some time now and with the recently ended blogging promotion event between CCP and GameScribe, there are a number of blogs that are simply disappearing, mainly because they were created to participate in the contest.  Now that the promotion contest is over, some of those blogs are no longer in existence and as a result, they will be removed from the OPML download.  I do have some additions to make and an upcoming announcement post will be made this coming Friday.  The OPML us up to date as of this blog posting, so fee freel to download a fresh copy (http://www.eve-druid.com/opml-download).

CrazyKinux has yet again, provided wonderful inspiration for our blogging community.  He has a wonderful contest setup for the next EVE Blog Banter (http://www.crazykinux.com/2009/06/eve-blog-banter-contest.html).  I myself will be writing an article, however, I will not be among those entries being judged for the prizes.  Now before anyone gets worked up, you should know that this was MY idea.  I shall attempt to explain.

CK, James Egan and I do a lot of work together for the blogging community.  CK maintains the EVE blogroll, I maintain the EVE OPML download and James Egan keeps up to date on the EVE community from a variety of information resources, including both postings among the EVE Blogging community and tips that CK and I send to James. Needless to say, we are friends and we do have a decent amount of regular contact with each other.

I have full faith that CK, Zapatero and James could be objective when judging entries, but there are always people who will take relationships such as those I share with CK and James and create a context of impropriety.  Such people would claim that a contest was rigged.  We have all seen such claims on the EVE forums and honestly, it’s usually a bunch of garbage, but the creation of “threadnaughts’ and other related drama end up ruining an otherwise entertaining and fulfilling event.

Rather than leave such potential drama be something that can ruin the honest, open and honorable nature that the EVE Blogging Community holds itself accountable to, I deciced to stop it from happening, hence my decision to ask CK to remove my contribution to the upcoming blog banter from the judging.  Don’t get me wrong, it hasn’t kept me from writing a post.  I had an idea and yes I am going to participate in the Blog Banter itself, just not the contest.

Yes, my blog banter post this time is a long read like my last one.  You have been warned. 

Anyway, that’s all I have for now, see you out there!!!

Counting our new additions listed below, we now have 498blogs in the OPML download.  Do remember, the EVE Online Blogroll Lovefest that CrazyKinux maintains (http://www.crazykinux.com/2008/04/eve-online-blogroll-lovefest.html) is a listing of blogs that are active.  The OPML download has some of the defunct blogs as they are still worth reading if you never had the chance to read them, like the EVE Online 0.0 Experiment (http://00experiment.blogspot.com) and a few others.

To get your blog listed on CK’s Blogroll Lovefest, simply post a comment on the post with your blog’s information. I check his listing from time to time to add blogs to the OPML download. I also add people when I learn about a new blog. If your blog is not listed on the OPML download and you would like it listed, just drop me a line at galen@eve-druid.com and I will get you added.

So, without further adieu, here are our newest members of the EVE Blogging Community!!

• Inanity and Doom (http://kantlavar.blogspot.com)
• The Phonenix Corporation (http://www.phoenixcorps.blogspot.com)
• Soulprayer (http://soulprayer.de)
• VelociLogic (http://velocilogic.squarespace.com) I believe this is our first EVE Blog hosted on Squarespace (http://www.squarespace.com)
• EVE Pilot (http://evepilot.eve-gamers.co.uk)
• Into the unknodn with a gun and camera (http://gunandcamera.wordpress.com)
• Yarrbear Tales (http://00sage00.wordpress.com)
• Travel in Stygian (http://travelinstygian.blogspot.com)
• When We Fight (http://whenwefight.blogspot.com)
• The Eden Explorer (http://edenexplorer.info)
• Internet Spaceships is Serious Business (http://bagehi-eve.blogspot.com)
• Internet Spreassheets Naptime Online (http://isno4eve.blogspot.com)
• Cle Demaari:  A Citizen in EVE (http://citizenineve.blogspot.com)
• The Chronofile (http://chronofile.tumblr.com)

Welcome to the EVE Online Blog Sphere!!!

I have been busy as a beaver with writing projects, enjoying summer movies, recovering from vacation and of course, playing EVE.

For those of you who have followed the ongoing conflict between The United and The Neo Spartans I will say that the fight goes on.  For the latest stats, you can view the stats on the campaign, Ding Ding! Round 2! I missed a good portion of the combat as I was on vacation, but I had a chance to engage a volley or two.

Yes, there is a new look here.  I went over to Podlogs (http://podlogs.com) and downloaded the ‘Angry Amarr’  theme (http://podlogs.com/themes/?preview_theme=Angry%20Amarr).  It’s a nice theme and I like how it looks.

OPML update, I have an update post going live this Friday listing the recent additions.  If you have not already done so, please send me your requests to be added to the OPML no later than downtime on this coming Thursday.  Hopefully I will receive enough responses so that I don’t have to update the post multiple time after it’s gone live.

Speaking of new blogs, I have a few words on the concerns the blogging community have expressed.  As with all things, the more you have is not always better.  Our community recently hit a major milestone with a record number of 535 blogs.  This is a major achievement, however, with all things in nature, there is a balance between the positive and negative.

With the larger number of blogs comes increased administration on the part of myself and Crazy Kinux with regards to the OPML and the EVE Blogroll.  It is a bittersweet thing since both of use love to read the diverse postings of our community.

With all this growth, we must admit that there will be some ‘dead loss’.  CCP and GameScribe had a major promotion going on to get people to blog about the community.  Many blogs were created in that push and to be honest, I see some of those blogs simply dieing out as the promotion ends.  Rest assured, the EVE Blogroll and the OPML download will be revised to reflect those inactive AND inaccessible blogs.

The OPML download has always had blogs listed that were no longer active for the sole purpose of providing a ‘historical’ listing of those who had contributed to the EVE Blogging Community.  So please do not be concerned if the OPML download count of blogs varies from CrazyKinux’s EVE Blogroll.  Many of these older inactive blogs had a lot of good content that any new blogger and member of the EVE Online gaming community may find benefit.

See you out there!!!

Questions or comments should be directed here, and if you are interested in signing up to participate go here.  Anyone can submit source materials, to do so email them to us here.  And don’t forget to read the other EVE Blog Challenge posts that will be listed at the bottom of this post.

This months source materials were submitted up by AnMiTh from EVE Guru.

The sun glistens off the side of the Blade of Truth as she slowly glides through space towards the station orbiting Amarr. This has been the end of a long journey, Leaianti had to go through the fire and brimstone of hell, but you made it in one piece. Those Sansha pirates were right when they said it would be tough, they were also right when they said she would be rich.

The ship glides to a stop as the station’s docking computer takes over control of  Blade of Truth.  Before Leainati is even ready to exit her pod the request is sent to her computer… “They” are ready for you in the meeting hall, they are anxious to hear about the journey and the status of the mission that she was on.

Those Sansha pirates were supposed to meet with both her and Ga’len to finalize the payments for ’stolen loot’.

Ga’len, it had been so long since she had seen her half-brother Ga’len.  Years had gone by and their paths always seemed to not be able to cross.  There was the time in Hek when the Minmatar gate police were chasing around Ga’len or that time when she had recently castrated an Amarr bishop who was molesting those little boys.

There was always something getting in the way.

The shower was a blessing.  It had been four months in space without a break.  Leaianti did not mind spending time suspended in that Jovian goo, but it is always nice to get out and move about using your legs instead of a ship’s thrusters.  The warm water flowed over her body, caressing away the stress of the past four months.  If only all things in life we filled with the brief, bittersweet joys of cleaning one’s skin.  If only all the troubles in life could simply be washed away into the drain in the floor.

Trogon was standing in the meeting hall.  He was a short man, twisted back and grotesque features from years of abusing those narcotics that the Serpentis pirates sold him each week.  He thought himself a giant, a gift to the women of the universe.  Most people thought otherwise.  He saw her and yelled, “Leaianti!  It is good to see you again!  That uniform does you no justice, take it off and I will show you…” He stopped short.  A knife was at his throat and an evil smile was on Leaianti’s face.

“Don’t test me little man.  I am not interested in you showing me your delusions of adequacy.  I am not a plaything for you to fret about with your little tools.  I have dropped off the last of the cargo into your storage area.  I expect to be paid now.  Pay me and answer my question, where is everyone?”  Leaianti’s commanding voice made Trogon cower like the troll that he was.

“Don’t think that a free ‘Minnie-bitch’ can cut a man’s throat on an Amarr station,” he hissed.  His eyes glaring at her body as if she was a piece of meat, “Now, where shall I put….” his voice seized in his throat as the knife pressed harder into his skin.

“You can put whatever trifles you are thinking about back into you dreams.  I am not your toy; do not even try to play with me.  Now give me my money and answer my question, where is everyone?” Leainati’s patience was wearing thin.  This Sansha pirate needed to die but it would have to wait.  She needed the money she was owed.

“Calm yourself, I meant no harm.  If you would be so kind to put your knife away, we can conclude our business,” Trogan’s eyes were wide with fear.  As Leainati sheathed her knife, he quickly typed away on his data pad.  A sharp trilling from her data pad confirmed that the money had been transferred, “Now that our business is concluded, what is your price?  You are simply too beautiful to not have me.  Many a woman has wanted to lay with me.  I can be your greatest adventure!  How much to ride you like the ‘Minnie-bitch’ that you are!”

Silence.

There was just silence in the air.  It hung thick as Trogon stopped talking.  The silence held him upright as he stood in complete shock.  It held him there as a spot of blood formed at the center of his neck and slowly spread in a thin horizontal line around his neck.  The silence continued to hold his body firm as his head slowly tilted to the left and fell from his neck.  His hands twitched slightly and then the whole of his frame slowly, silently, collapsed to the floor.  The silence was only broken as the sound of blood dripping from Leainati’s knife slowly, patted upon the floor.

“His blood was simply not worth spilling, but alas, the deed is done.  Good thing too, I wanted to shoot him.  He should be nicer to my sister,” Ga’len’s voice rang out from the shadows as he slowly stepped into the light of the meeting hall.

“BROTHER,” Leainati yelled as she ran towards him.  They embraced each other as she spoke, “I have missed you so much.  Did you loose another Capsule?  You have no hair!”

Ga’len smiled, “No.  Being the pirate that I am, I cannot simply fly into the Amarr system.  The gate police will shoot me on site.  Fortunately, I still had a jump clone here.  It was the easiest way to get into the station.  As long as I behave myself, the police on the station will take no notice of me being here.  Of course, still having my identification documents for Galen Grendalis the Fifth.  That helps to distract their attention from my ‘Yarr-ish’ lifestyle.”

“So, since you always behave like yourself, I would guess you can answer my question as to where are all the other Sansha pirates I was supposed to meet,” Leainati grinned as she spoke.  She knew her brother well.

Ga’len chuckled and smiled, “Over here, in the trash chute.  The Fedoes are enjoying themselves.  It’s a good thing they don’t care what they eat.”

Leainati and Ga’len worked quickly to clean up the mess that was left of Trogon and headed out of the meeting hall.  Across the promenade they walked, towards a quiet bar.  After ordering drinks and some food, they headed to a booth in the back where they could talk in private.

“So tell me ‘blue-eyes’, how the hell you managed to steal all that stuff and make it back from Venal,” Ga’len was looking at her with much interest.

Leainati smiled and spoke, “It took several trips as my Reaper’s cargo hold is not the largest in New Eden.  I learned a lot about Warp Disruption bubbles and how to avoid them.  I guess being blown up several times with an empty hold made the pirates think twice about shooting me.  No point in trying to loot an empty wreck.  After that, it was just a matter of making the trips to and from Empire Space,” she paused to take a drink of her ale, “So tell me, how is life in the Neo Spartans?  Otou is a nice system I hear.”

“Life is good and yes, I like living in Otou.  It is a nice system with a lot to see.  As for the Neo Spartans, their style of honorable pirating suits me well.  I must say I was happy and shocked to receive your message.  I thought you had been killed without a clone in Venal,” a tear forms in his eye and his voice breaks, “I thought you were gone.”

Leainati holds his hand, “Dear brother, we are bound to each other by more than this life.  We will never loose each other.  We are free, alive, and immortal Capsuleers.  So, while we are here in Amarr, did you want to go down to Oris and see our old home?  Perhaps visit our mother?”

Ga’len eyes closed for a moment as he collected himself.  It had been years since they both had set foot on Oris and much had changed.  “The manor is gone.  My father’s rage and open rebellion against Empress Jamyl’s emancipation decree destroyed that great house.  He would not free his slaves so the Amarr authorities seized the property.  They killed him when the marines stormed the manor house.”

Leainati sat in shock, “Well, he was an evil man to the end.  What about mother?  I never learned what happened to her after we left.”

Ga’len continued sadly, “She passed away shortly after we left.  Tanitel sent us both a message; I guess yours got lost while you were in Venal.  She saw the pictures Seenan took of us on Tanitel’s data pad, smiled, fell into a deep sleep, and quietly passed away.  Our mother’s ashes were spread among the stars.  Tanitel and Seenan said it was her last wish, to travel among the stars with her children.  It was the last thing they did before they headed to Rens.”

They both sat in silence for a long time.  Leainati was the first to speak again, “So, that history is all that is left.  I guess there is nothing left for us there.”

“No, it’s the past,” Ga’len affirmed, “Now, enough of sadness.  We have our futures to see to.  Let us eat, I am hungry.  Tell me, what is this I hear about some ruffian in Tash-Murkon you have been flirting with.  I hear stories….”

Read more of the EVE Blog Challenge:

• A Mule In EvE, Been a long way back home
• Declarations of War, Internal Unrest
• Into the unknown with a gun and camera, Evie
• Symptom of a greater cure, Sleeping with Sleepers
• Into the Unknown – Sisters of EVE
• Kyle Langdons Journey in EVE – EVE Blog Challenge
• Melted Capacitor – Welcome Back
• Thats it for this EBC, Check us out next month for another round of fun!

More of The Bleeding Rose

Well, without further adieu, here are the places I have been:

As you can see, I have not been everywhere, but I do tend to…..wander. 

This update is a bit different from our normal update post.  We have two new blogging services offering free blogging space for gamers.  We have PodLogs (http://www.podlogs.com) with an EVE Online specific focuse and GameScribe (http://mygamescribe.com) with a focus on the MMORPG community in general. As a result of the enormous enrollment with these two services, our blogging community has literally doubled in size in less than a month.

In case you are not aware, CrazyKinux maintains a complete blogroll listing for the entire EVE Online Blogging Community at http://www.crazykinux.com/2008/04/eve-online-blogroll-lovefest.html. If you have a blog that is not on this centralized listing, please do comment on his post and CK will be more than happy to add your blog to the list.

Now, some of the blogs that are on the centralized blogs listing that CrazyKinux maintains do not have any posts as of yet.  Some of them have been added and others will simple not come up in the tools that I use (FeedDemon from NewsGator).  As a result, only 485 of the 535 blogs are currently listed on CK’s listing are in the OPML download.

If your blog is listed in CK’s listing and is not in the OPML download, this is the most likely reason.  Please contact me to have your blog entered into the OPML download if this is the case.  A comment on this post will work well enough to contact me.

Normally I would be listing out the new additions to the OPML download, however, there are just too many blogs to list individually and I have not had the chance to read through them all, there is just so much new content and I look forward to reading them all.

So, to all those of you who have joined our honored ranks, welcome to the EVE Online Blog Sphere and see you out there!!!

I am exhausted but I will be getting things sorted.  Thank you all for the comments on my EVE Blog Banter post, they should all be approved now.

For those of you who emailed me about getting listed in the OPML Download, I will get you listed as soon as the jet lag wears off, look for an OPML update post over the next few days.

To everyone else, I will respond to your messages as soon as I can!!

“The Five will leave the Eight.  Heed these words well Cerah Grendalis, the future depends on it.  The Five will leave the eight, The Five will leave the eight, THE FIVE WILL LEAVE THE EIGHT!!!”

Cerah woke in a cold sweat.  The old Minmatar woman Seenan was still haunting her dreams.  It had been 20 years since that night.  Twenty years since the birth of a child out of love.  To this day those haunting words had some hidden meaning to her, but nothing had come of that ‘divine omen’.

As she laid there in her bed, she savored finally being able to feel warm again.  Feeling the setting sun warm her through the window was a blessing that had been absent for far too long.

She had been ill for years, her body wasting away from the sickness within her body.  Many doctors had visited her over the years, none able to cure her.  She was dying and no one could save her.

“Tanitel,” she whispered, “O my Tanitel, I do still love you.  Watch over her.”

Soon her pains would be over.  Soon she will linger in anguish no longer.  She will be free from all this torment.  Soon death will take her with but one question still unanswered.

“The Five will leave the Eight,” she repeated aloud.

Sleep again crept up and silently took her to a dreaming journey.  It was here that she could find some freedom from her sins and yet the torment of her life continued to haunt her.  As she fell deeper into sleep, her words heavy with sleep caught her husband’s ears.

“What happened,…..what happened to my daughter…..Tanitel, please tel me….”

A few hours later, deep within the forest…

The ancient trees towered high.  Their strong branches spread wide, weaving a lush green fabric of leaves leaving only small glimpses of the sky above.  Veiled in the amber light that reflected from the Emperor Family Academy station in high orbit, Leainati and Galen were making their way through the dark woods.  Silently they moved, flowing through the underbrush like a fast but calm stream.  They were heading further into the forest and after they had traveled a few kilometers, they stopped to rest.

“Where are you taking me?”, asked Galen.

“I am taking you to see Seenan first and then to flee this place.”, replied Leaianti.

“Leaianti, I was only going to be whipped.  I can survive that well enough,” Galen’s Amarr pride was gleaming through his eyes.

“Seenan told me that I had to free you, that you have a destiny to fulfill and she insisted that you had to leave this place,” she patted him on the shoulder.

Galen’s face becomes filled with worry, “Leave?  Where will I go?  How will I live?”

“Relax, Seenan will explain everything.  Now, we must hurry.”

Making  their way past the old ruins where Galen would spend his time writing.  Further on they came to a clearing where a single campfire is burning.  Nearby is a tent with it’s flaps open.  Seenan is near the fire, sitting on a stool, stirring her drink with a spoon absently.  She looks up and the worry on her face is replaced with her familiar smile.

“Ah, my children, you have made it here safely.  Thank goodness.  Come, sit by the fire and eat something.  I have much to tell you.”

As they sat down by the fire, Galen spoke.

“Seenan, I am grateful that you sent help to save me from yet another beating by my father, but please do explain, what do you expect me to do now?” worry covers Galen’s face,  “I have fled my home and my father will now hunt me down and I expect, kill me.”

Calmingly Seenan speaks to Galen, “Child, I must tell you.  You have been wanting to leave this place, I suspect, for some time now.  Tell me, why do you wander about this forest?  Why you spend so much time among the ‘Old Stones’?”

Galen looks at Seenan.  How did she know about my travels in the old forrest? “So, tell me, how long have you been my shadow?  How long have you been watching my every move?”

Seenan smiled, “Well, to be complexly honest with you, ever since your half-sister Leaianti was born.”

Her smile widened as her two guests stared at her.  Their eyes wide, their jaws open in total shock.

“Nanna, what are you saying?  Do you mean to say that this Amarr is my kin?  I share blood with an Amarr?,” Leaianti looked horrified, “The tribe will kill me!!!”

Galen was still in total shock.  He knew of his father’s sins, how he had taken ‘Minnie lovers’ but there had never been any children or at least he had never heard of any.

“Seenan, Leaianti is my half sister?  Who did my father make her mother?”

“Galen my child.  Cerah is Leainati’s mother.  Your father could not bring a child of love into this world, save possibly for you.  My children, I think it’s time you met someone,” Seenan motions to the shadows beyond the light of the fire, “Tanitel, come here.  Come see your daughter, your family.”

From behind the trees, just past the light of the fire, a tall Minmatar man stepped forward.  Galen immediately recognized him.  He was one of the slaves that had served his mother for years.  He was the one who went to the market for her or saw to her errands.  He was a trusted salve of the manor.

“Greeting my children.  It is good to see you both safe.”

He sat down near the fire.  Everyone was very quiet for a long time, just staring into the fire, glancing up and looking at each other every now and again.  After what seemed like hours, Galen spoke.

“As an Amarr, I should have you killed for raping an Amarr woman, but I know my mother well.  She would have killed anyone who attacked her.  My mother was always sympathetic to the Minmatar people.  I can only guess what happened between you two.  After all, you have served her for years.”

“Galen, if I may call you friend?  I do have something for you, the both of you.  Your mother wrote you both letters a few years ago, in the hopes that you two would find each other.  She does not know who you are Leaianti.  She has never known your name nor your face.  It was for your safety.  Please, read these letters, they will explain everything.”

Both Galen and Leainati’s hands were shaking as they took their letters.  Galen recognized the writing as his mothers.  As they both read their letters, Tanitel told them some of what had happened.

“Cerah was…is a very beautiful woman.  She was always very curious about our people.  Her parents were kind masters, they never abused the Minmatar people, but they knew the dangers to their own if they were too kind.  Your mother spent a great deal of time sneaking out of the house, much like you do now Galen.

She wanted to learn as much about our people as she could.  Many times, I would catch her following me around, watching what I was doing.  One day she worked up the courage to speak to me.  She ordered me to carry some parcels from the market for her and I had been at her side ever since.”

Galen stopped reading his letter and look at Tanitel.  “She loved you very much.  She says here that she wished that you were my father, that I would have someone noble to learn from.”

Leaianti was sobbing softly.  “Is not Cerah very ill now?  I finally learn who my mother and father are, that I am not an orphan and now I am going to loose her.”

“Leaianti my child, “Tanitel spoke softly, “She is ill because her heart aches.  She can not know who you are as it would put you in danger.  She will be free soon, death is just another doorway of existence.  Know that you will always be in her heart.”

Seenan opened her satchel and produced a data pad.

“I believe Galen that this is yours.  I ‘borrowed’ it from you when you helped me earlier today.  I had hoped to capture a picture of Leaianti and place it back in your satchel with a message to show the picture to your mother.  Perhaps this still can be done?”

Galen looked at his sister and smiled.

“I think I can do better.  Do any of you know how I have snuck out of the manor?  There is a drainage outlet on the south slope.  The guards stay away from there, the stench of the Fedos in the holding pit is rather strong on that side of the manor.  We can sneak in from there and visit our mother, then sneak down to the pads, take a shuttle and leave this place.”

“It is too dangerous.  You can not risk being caught again.  By now, they will know you have escape the chapel.  Besides, we already have a ship for you.”

Tanitel removed a data pad from his pocket, pressed a few buttons and a shuttle hidden in the trees began to power up.

Seenan held Galen’s data pad in front of her, motioning for all of them to stand together.  She took a captured a few photos, wrote a message into the data pad and handed it to Tanitel.

“My children, you must go.  In the shuttle is everything you will need to make it to Emrayur.  Galen, your father has no authority there, you will be safe.  Go and find your destinies.”

Galen and Leaianti picked themselves up and began to follow Tanitel toward the shuttle.

“Seenan, one thing before we go.  Leainati told me I should ask you, what does the name Ga’len mean?”

She smiled and hugged him gently, whispering into his ear, “You offered me kindness when I hurt my ankle.  I offered you a kindness in turn.  Ga’len has many meanings in the history of mankind, but names have a freedom about them.  It will mean what you want it to mean.  It’s your name, it’s your life.  That’s what it means to be free.”

They sat down in the shuttle.  Leaianti went through their provisions, Galen looked over the controls and set a course for Emrayur.  Tanitel hugged them both and closed the door to the shuttle behind him.  A few moments later the shuttle, Blade of Truth, was climbing fast into the night sky.

“Nanna, I will deliver this to Cerah at once.  I should think I will not return once they learn of what is stored on this data pad.”

Seenan looked up into his eyes, “Do not worry, whatever happens you will be free, Cerah will be free and now, Galen and Leaianti will be free.”

Continued….

More of The Bleeding Rose

This month’s topic comes to us from Ga’len at The Wandering Druid of Tranquility.  He asks: “What new game mechanic or mechanics would you like to see created and brought into the EVE Online universe and how would this be incorporated into the current game universe?  Be specific and give details, this is not meant to be a ‘nerf this, boost my game play’ post like we see on the EVE forums.”

We all see things in game that need to be enhanced or ‘fixed’.  We all see the many things that need to be tweaked and I know that we all talk about them.  But that’s not the question here.  What new thing would we like to see brought in to the EVE Online game?  Hmm…

Hackable Sentry Guns

All low sec pirates have to deal with the fact that engaging in piracy on a stargate will result in the sentry guns firing on you.  Well, what about those guns suddenly going offline?  In many PvE missions, you need to use a ‘hacking module’ to be able to access a container, why not add hackable sentry guns to the mix?

This is how it would work.  Hacking sentries would only apply to the sentries at stargates in a .4 or lower security system as they are unmanned structures and there is no Concord nor faction police patrolling the stargate.  Attempting to hack a sentry gun in a .5 or higher security system would result  in the same response as if you had shot at a sentry gun.  Hacking the Concord Billboard would not be possible as Concord maintains an active data link with the billboards, sentries are automatic and unmaned.  Hacking sentries at stations would also not be possible as they are remote controlled by the station.

You would need the same skills that are needed to operate a codebreaker module and operate POS guns.  You would use new codebreaking modules that are only available from Deadspace complexes.  There would be two code breaker modules, a pirate module and a police module.  The pirate module would require a pilot security status of -5.0 or lower greater (you would have to had that -5.0 status for at least 1 in game month as well) to operate.  The  police module would require a +5.0 security status or higher (you would have to had that +5.0 status for at least 1 in game month as well) to operate.

You would have to engage in a separate hacking attempt for every gun on a stargate.  Simply hacking one of the guns will not work as they work in unison.  You can only hack them if all of the guns are not currently firing on a ship as the guns can not be hacked and offlined while you or anyone on the stargate has an active aggression timer.  If you are in the middle of hacking a sentry gun and aggression occurs where the guns should start firing, your hacking attempt will be interrupted and you will have to start all over again.

If you attempted and failed to hack any one of the guns, all of the guns would go on high alert and would not be hackable by anyone for the next 7 hours.  You would immediately would be fired upon by the sentries as tampering with sentries is an act of aggression and you specifically could not jump through that specific stargate for the next 60 minutes.

If you were successful, all the guns would not open fire on aggression at that stargate for the next 4 hours regardless of who engaged in an act of aggression.   The Concord billboard would be still active and able to fire on anyone who commits an act of aggression, but it’s rate of fire would be reduced by half as it would be actively trying to online the sentry guns again.

While any of the sentry guns are offline, the security status indication would change on the info screen for that system as well as on the screen of everyone currently in the system.  Say a system was a .4 system, it would now show up as a .35.  A .3 system would show up as a .25, a .2 as a .15 and a .1 as a .05.  This change in security status may or may not have an affect on the type of NPC rats in the asteroid belts.

Sentry guns would come back online once the four hour timer expires Once they come back online, they would go into a high alert mode that would not allow them to be hacked again for the next 3 hours.  The security status for that system would also return to it’s original state.

Now you many ask, what is the purpose of the police codebreaking module?  This is a fun one.  It allows a person to fill the role of a vigilante and online the guns after they have been offlined.

You have to online each gun in the same fashion that the pirate module was used to offline the guns, however, if you fail your hacking attempt, nothing happens.

If you are successful in bringing all the guns back online, you will then have an aggression timer with those sentries for tampering and you will not be able to jump through that stargate for the next 60 minutes. You would have the same security status drop as if you engaged in aggression around the sentries.

Before you cry foul remember, you are still tampering with the sentry guns and only the police are allowed to do that.  You are risking being shot by the sentries to receive the reward of stopping the pirates from being able to gate camp without sentry guns shooting them.

Please do read these other fine posts on this month’s Blog Banter!!!

• CrazyKinux’s Musing, EVE Blog Banter #8: Care for a little game of SecWars?
• I am Keith Nielson, EVE Blog Banter #8 – Return of the Top Gun
• Once More from the Beginning, 8th EVE Blog Banter May 2009 Edition
• A merry life and a short one, EVE Blog Banter #8: In the Year of Our Awesome
• Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah, Planets
• Helicity Boson, Bantering the blog
• Achernar, Unique adventures
• Ecliptic Rift, OOC: EVE Blog Banter 8: Standings and secondary factions
• The New Edener, EVE Blog Banter #8
• Journey to New Eden, Eve Blog Banter #8: What new mechanic should be added to Eve?
• One Man And His Spaceship, Blog Banter 8 – Something new to ponder about
• Life, The Universe and Everything, Blog banter 8: mentorship
• EVE Guru, EBB 8: Yarr! Prepare to be boarded!
• The Ralpha Dogs, Greed Is Good, Greed Works
• Rifter Drifter, Blog Banter 8: Strategic Gunnery
• A Mule in EVE, Expanding EVE
• Letrange’s EvE Blog, 8th Blog Banter
• Roc’s Ramblings, Blog Banter #8
• The Nude Nerd, Blog Banter #8
• Scop’s Log, Blog Banter #8: “We’re caught in a tractor beam! It’s pulling us in!”
• Speed Fairy, EVE Blog Banter #8: Charisma Tanking
• Industrialist with Teeth, EVE Blog Banter #8: It’s Like Tetris for OCD People
• Diary of a Pod Pilot, EVE blog banter #8: Killing in the name of
• Talk Unfraid, Physical Communications
• Sceadugenca, EVE Blog Banter #8: Fighter-Class Ships and Sqadrons
• Kyle Langdon’s Journeys in EVE, 8th Blog Banter
• Into the Unknown, Eve Blog Banter #8: Player Bases
• EVE’s Weekend Warrior, EVE Blog Banter #8
• Life in Low Sec, Blog Banter #8: The Exasperation Factor
• Symptom of a Greater Cure, EVE Blog Banter: #8 – Tug Me Away
• EVE Journey, OOC – EVE Blog Banter #8: Marine Leader : “We have secured the ship, Sir!”
• Thoughts from an Accidental Minmatar Revolutionary, All Hands on Deck! We are at War!
• Ripe Lacunae, Into the Great Unknown (Eve Blog Banter
• Mdhi Lihu’s EVE Online Blog, 009 – Blog Banter #8
• Break Vol, EVE Blog Banter #8
• Inanity and Doom, EVE Blog Banter #8 – If I Ran The Universe
• Once More from the Beginning, EVE Blog Banter #8: Devil’s in the details
• The Flightless Geek, EVE Blog Banter #8

Pluggit (http://www.pluggit.org) has just made history for the EVE Online community as the first social network that is focused solely on EVE Online.  It a website that uses an open source application called Pligg (http://www.pligg.com) that operates in a similar fashion to the famous social network known as Digg (http://www.digg.com).

Right now, there are no Wordpress plugins that will support a Pligg (http://www.pligg.com) based social network site, so incorporating the Pluggit badge is a bit involved.

The first is a quick and dirty way by editing the html for your Wordpress post:

• When you are making your post, click on HTML view tab
• Place this code at the top or bottom of the page:

----------------------------------
<script type="text/javascript">submit_url = 'Insert Article URL';</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://pluggit.org/evb/button.php"></script>

• Put in your post’s url
• Then click on the visual tab again and save the post.  This will give you the same button you see on this blog post.

This method is a bit involved but it will work.

The second way is a bit easier, use the templates plugin for Wordpress (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/post-template/) and create a blank post with the same code we used in the above method.

----------------------------------
<script type="text/javascript">submit_url = 'Insert Article URL';</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://pluggit.org/evb/button.php"></script>

When you go to make a new post for your blog, use the template, update your post’s url in the code and the Pluggit badge will already be at the end of the post for you.

For a complete list of all the variations of code to incorporate the Pluggit badge into your website, head over to http://podlogs.com/blog/2009/05/18/pluggit-buttons.

Now, the creator of the Pluggit website, our good friend Eddit Gordo,  didn’t stop with his one service, he created another equally valuable resource.

Podlogs.com (http://www.podlogs.com) is offering free Wordpress based blogs with pre-configured EVE themes.  So if you were debating on joining the EVE Blogging community and you were concerned about creating a visually stunning blog, wait no longer.  For those of us who have been at it for a while, all the themes at Podlogs are available for download so we too can enjoy these wonderful Wordpress themes.

This leads me to the real purpose of this post and my second OPML update of the week.  Below are all the blogs that now exist on Podlogs and their contribution now brings the total of EVE blogs in the OPML to 272!!

I want to extend a huge thank you to Eddie Gordo.  With his hard work, he has added two new services for the EVE Online community that puts him in the ranks alongside Chribba (http://www.eve-files.com) and Roc Wieler (http://capsuleer.evesuite.com).  Thanx mate!!!

Welcome to the EVE Online Blogging Community and let’s see how much more we can grow!!

• Thoughts from an Accidental Minmatar Revolutionary (http://podlogs.com/thorvik)
• Gallente Flying Minmatar (http://podlogs.com/ferdioricotez)
• TekTok (http://podlogs.com/tekamura)
• Idiocy 101, (http://podlogs.com/xious)
• Les carnets de Veninsul,(http://podlogs.com/veninsul)
• dreaming of leaving hi-sec (http://podlogs.com/praerian)
• Eve life and times (http://podlogs.com/robstal)
• Hexentanz EVE Artworks (http://podlogs.com/hexentanz)
• Burrito’s Quest to Universal Domination (http://podlogs.com/burritosaretasty)
• The edges of known space (http://podlogs.com/knownspace)
• Sarathin’s Blog (http://podlogs.com/sarathin)
• Terron Itokata: Gun Diplomat (http://podlogs.com/terron)
• Akikio Lankinen (http://podlogs.com/akikio)
• Darkness and Void (http://podlogs.com/darknessandvoid)
• Ponderings from a Prospector (http://podlogs.com/matthias)
• Ill Omen (http://podlogs.com/illomens)
• The Lonley Hauler (http://podlogs.com/13january)
• Spawn of Eden (http://podlogs.com/edurardo)
• Caldarian’s Kanj Travellar (http://podlogs.com/kanji)
• Alexandra Stormwing (http://podlogs.com/alexandrastormwing)
• A Pirates Life for Me! (http://podlogs.com/hyfvenom)
• The Adventures of a Clone and His Pod (http://podlogs.com/kurzik)
• Global Posts (http://podlogs.com/tags)
• Infection Vector (http://podlogs.com/nikiruu)
• Knightly Tales of Pew-Pew (http://podlogs.com/tandin)
• Van’s Quest (http://podlogs.com/vanadiel)
• I will try to find my place (http://podlogs.com/nocts)
• Carthage Industries (http://podlogs.com/carthageindustries)
• Safe Spot (http://podlogs.com/golan)

———————————-

Counting our new additions listed below, we now have 244 blogs in the OPML download.  Do remember, the EVE Online Blogroll Lovefest that CrazyKinux maintains (http://www.crazykinux.com/2008/04/eve-online-blogroll-lovefest.html) is a listing of blogs that are active.  The OPML download has some of the defunct blogs as they are still worth reading if you never had the chance to read them, like the EVE Online 0.0 Experiment (http://00experiment.blogspot.com) and a few others.

To get your blog listed on CK’s Blogroll Lovefest, simply post a comment on the post with your blog’s information. I check his listing from time to time to add blogs to the OPML download. I also add people when I learn about a new blog. If your blog is not listed on the OPML download and you would like it listed, just drop me a line at galen@eve-druid.com and I will get you added.

So, without further adieu, here are our newest members of the EVE Blogging Community!!

• A Sebiestor Scholar – Zargyl (http://zargyl.blogspot.com)
• R3VOLV3R’s Blog (http://www.blackhatsdelta.com/r3v)
• Once More From The Beginning (http://billyblame.blogspot.com)
• Latro’s Bunker (http://latrosbunker.blogspot.com)
• Journey to New Eden (http://journeytoneweden.blogspot.com)
• From the Desk of the CEO (http://eveceo.blogspot.com)
• EVE Online Postcards (http://evepost.blogspot.com)
• Podlogs (http://podlogs.com) FREE WORDPRESS BLOGS WITH EVE THEMES ALREADY TO GO!!!
• Bump in the Night (http://sulla-monster.blogspot.com)

Welcome to the EVE Online Blog Sphere!!!

———————————-

It’s anniversary time!!!  I’ve officially been a member of the Neo Spartans (http://wiki.eveonline.com/wiki/Neo_Spartans_(Player_corporation)) for a year now.  Where the hell did the time go?

I have made a lot of friends over the past year.  I have had the wonderful opportunity to fly with some very talented pilots.  We have a great group of pilots and we have a lot of fun.  It’s been a blast and I am honored to be one of the Neo Spartans!!

Want to share in the Neo Spartans legacy?  Head over to our CafePress store (http://www.cafepress.com/NeoSpartans).  We have lots of fun stuff to purchase!!!

Interested in joining the Neo Spartans or our sister corp, the Neo Catamites?  Head over to our forums (http://neo-spartans.eve-webspace.com/forums) and put in an application!!!

See you out there!!!

———————————-

http://www.eveonline.com/updates/patchnotes.asp?patchlogID=187

Things that caught my eye:

• The agility and the scan resolution of some ship classes has been adjusted to allow them to have a better chance of locking ships of their own size before they got to warp. Full details are available here. This means that a cruiser will have a better chance of locking and warp scrambling another cruiser, this was something that was broker when Aprocphya was initially deployed.
• If a ship cloaks, all active modules that modify attributes, such as ECM, will stop immediately and the icons showing the effect will disappear. No more using the Cloak/Align exploit, finally.
• Cloaking a Falcon while there is a jamming cycle in progress and the jammer has been deactivated will now result in an immediate break of the jam cycle on the targeted ship. To clarify: if you start a 20 second jamming cycle on a ship, then deactivate the jamming module and cloak, the jam cycle on the target will immediately cease. No more using the uncloak – jam – cloak exploit, finally.
• Corporation directors will no longer be spammed multiple times for the same starbase event.  They will receive one mail only. But I love receiving automated in game email spam, makes my mailbox look like Jita local ** smirk **.
• Grouped laser turrets will now allow a single crystal to be changed out once it has become completely damaged. For example, if you have aa Apocalypse with grouped pulse lasers using Tech II Scorch crystals, with varying degrees of damage you can reload used crystals without breaking the weapon group. This issue annoyed me to no end, thank you CCP for fixing this one!!!

So, there you have some of the items in the patch.  Do follow the link at the top of this post to the full patch notes and remember to set a long skill training or put skills into your training queue!!

Continued from part I…

Seenan’s eyes were wide but her voice was steady and strong.  “My dear, what are you doing?  This man tended to my ankle and has helped me get this far.  Put your knife down!”

Seenan’s daughter could not believe what she was hearing, “Nanna, he’s Amarr, he could not have helped you! This is a trick!!!”

“Oh my dear, he is not the only kind one among those dreadful Amarr heathens.  Put your knife away and help me home.  I will tell you everything.”

This Minmatar youth’s face becomes a classic expression of surprise.  She sheaths her knife and backs away from this curious Amarrian youth.  This simply could not be.  An Amarrian who is kind and caring?  She had not heard of such a thing.  He’s staring at me.  Why is he staring at me?  Too bad he is Amarr, his face is not unpleasant.

Galen could not help himself.  This woman, although apparently deadly, was beautiful.  Her blue eyes just seemed to glow like the morning sky, her face was filled with the beauty of youth.  There was something very familiar about her eyes, but he dismissed it as a fleeting attraction for a beautiful face.

“Nanna, he is Amarr.  They can not be trusted.  They will lie at the drop of a stone.  Look how he stares at me now.  He’s thinking how he can take me to his bed chamber!”  Her hand was now again, holding her knife.

Seenan raised a hand to her daughter and gave Galen a sideways look, winking a subtle wink with one eye before she spoke.  “Oh my, where are my manners.  Leainati, this is Ga’len.  He is a forester for the manor.  He was out to collect the produce from the mushroom growers.  We have crossed paths before and I must tell you, he is not like any Amarr you have met before.  Put away your knife, he is unarmed and he’s just a bit smitten with you.  You know how all the boys like to chase you around.”

Guh len, Ga’len?  That was not my name.  She know who I am but why hide my identity?  Perhaps Leainati would kill me if she knew who I was.  I should play along he thought.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Leainati.  I must admit, I need to head back to the harvesters as soon as possible.  They will be looking for their mushroom shipment at the manor.  Ladies, I believe this is where I take my leave.  I should be heading back.”

“Ga’len, I do not trust you.  You are Amarr, how do I know that you won’t call the guards to kill me?  I threatened your life.”

“Believe me, you can trust me.  If I wanted you dead, you would be lying on the ground by now.  Please understand….”

Suddenly, from down the path, two guards spotted the three of them.

“HALT!!!!  YOU THERE, ON THE GROUND NOW!!!”

Galen turned to his two new friends and yelled, “RUN, RUN!!  GET OUT OF HERE.”

The two guards began to raise their weapons.  Galen ran towards them as fast as he could.  He tackled one of the guards, knocking him to the ground, smashing his head with a deep, resonating thump.

The second guard however, was untouched and smacked Galen against his head with the butt of his rifle.  Everything went dark.

Galen awoke, his head was throbbing as the a nurse standing over him was changing the dressing for the wound on his head.

“M’Lord, it is good to see you awake.  You are in the medbay and you will be fine.  You took a nasty blow to your head.  It’s a good thing that guard recognized you or you would be dead now.  Of course, he would be still be dead for striking a member of the ruling family.  Your father commands your presence immediately.”

Slowly, Galen raised himself from the bed.  The whole room seemed to bounce in his eyes.  Each heartbeat made his head throb more and more.  Breathing only increased the throbbing and hence the wobble of the room.  Slowly, he walked out of the medbay and headed for the throne room.

When Galen arrived, his father was no where to be seen.  The local enforcement magistrate was standing just inside the hall.

“Ah, the rebel has arrived.  It is fortunate you are the son of Galen Grendalis the IV, otherwise you would be dead now.  Fucking ‘Minnie’ lover!!”

Galen stood there and glared at the magistrate.  “You have no right to speak to me with such tone.  Leave my sight now or I will have you removed.”

“Will all due respect M’Lord, you have no right to remove me.  You are under arrest for aiding in the escape of two Minmatar slaves and killing a guard who was in pursuit.  You may be spared severe punishment if you tell us who it was you helped to escape.”

Galen stood as silent as the stone pillars that surrounded the throne room.

“Very well, then you shall be subject to the most severe punishment under the law.  GUARDS, take this traitor to his quarters, he is under house arrest.”

Galen was hung on a toture rack that had been brought into the chapel.  He hung there, his face twisted from the pain of his head and the deep thought, I shall be beaten by my father, the coward.

“So, you did lie to me after all,” the words pierced the darkness of the room.

Galen raises his head slightly and tried to look around.  It was dark in the chapel, but he could make out a familiar face.  Those blue eyes that reflected the moonlight, glowed slightly in the darkness.

“Are you here to kill me with your knife now that you know I lied to you?” Galen asked.

Leainati smiled and looked him square in the eyes.  “Seenan told me everything.  It would seem that not all Amarr are bastards.  It would also seem that you do not want the mantle that was born upon your shoulders.  So tell me, who is this Ga’len person?”

“Seenan made that up, “ she chuckled quietly, “well….Ga’len, Galen.  Not very original, but if I am to free you and we manage to escape, you will need to change your name.  They will hunt you down.”

“Leainati, you are here to free me?  A Minmatar girl freeing an Amarr boy.”

“Yes, well, Seenan said this to me, ‘Together you will both be free and in time, so will we all’, or something like that.”

Leainati took her knife and soon he was free of the rack.

“What now blue eyes?”

Leainati held the knife to his throat.  “Let’s get this straight.  I am proud of my name, it’s Leainati.  Seenan gave me my name and I will always carry it.  Just because it means ‘blue eyed warrior’ in some ancient language does not mean you can jokingly toss it’s around, got it?”

“So, what does Ga’len mean then?”

“You will have to ask Seenan when you see her, come on, we must get out of here quickly.”

Continue to part III

More of The Bleeding Rose

DOWNOAD IT NOW!!!

http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1069015

Some advice, use the torrent download, it will go much quicker!!!

It’s yet another awesome production.

CODE FUSCHIA FTW!!!!

As this blog post states, part II will go live on Monday, May 11th.  You will be able to see it in your RSS reader (insert shameless plug for the EVE Player Blogs OPML Download) with your morning updates as well as on the site at 5:10 am EDT.

To be honest, this back story for my character Ga’len is something that I have been toying around with in my head for some time.  I am truly glad I decided to finally write it out and share it with you all.  I am even more happy that so many of you enjoyed part I.

Part III is mostly finished, just some editing to do.  I plan to release part III for your enjoyment by June 1.  I have  part IV already in the works and it is coming along nicely.

Again, I want to thank everyone for their feedback on this little project of mine and again, thank you for reading!!!

So, below you can find the additional updates put into the OPML this week. Counting our new additions listed below, we now have 236 blogs in the OPML download.  Do remember, the EVE Online Blogroll Lovefest that CrazyKinux maintains (http://www.crazykinux.com/2008/04/eve-online-blogroll-lovefest.html) is a listing of blogs that are active.  The OPML download has some of the defunct blogs as they are still worth reading if you never had the chance to read them, like the EVE Online 0.0 Experiment (http://00experiment.blogspot.com) and a few others.

To get your blog listed on CK’s Blogroll Lovefest, simply post a comment on the post with your blog’s information.  I check his listing from time to time to add blogs to the OPML download.  I also add people when I learn about a new blog.  If your blog is not listed on the OPML download and you would like it listed, just drop me a line at galen@eve-druid.com and I will get you added.

So, without further adieu, here are our newest members of the EVE Blogging Community!!

• Why So Sad?  (http://sd-eve.com/happysan)
• EVE Hub (http://evehub.blogspot.com)
• Hardwirings and all that (http://neuralboost.wordpress.com)
• Vikarioin (http://vikarion.blogspot.com)
• Agent EVE (http://eveagent.blogspot.com)
• EveMaps (http://evemaps.dotlan.net/blog)
• Achernar (http://www.alphaeridani.com)
• Nefchast (http://nefchast.com/category/eve-online)

Welcome to the EVE Online Blog Sphere!!!