Follow the Yellow Brick Road

Then that accounts for it.  In civilized countries I believe there are no witches left, nor wizards, nor sorceresses, nor magicians.  But you see, the Land of Oz has never been civilized, for we are cut off from the rest of the word.  Therefore we still have witches and wizards amongst us.

~ The Wonderful Wizardof Oz, by Frank L. Baum

I was talking with a pirate the other night.  Well, an iPirate to be precise.  Vas and I, while on different sides of the Concord Sec Status in EVE, are on the same team in some sense through the broad umbrella of the Casualties of War guild, having played in Warhammer before this.

I mentioned to him that Null Sec had started to sound alot like Oz to me.  He laughed and agreed.  And here’s why:  in this long strange trip to 0.0 that we’ve been taking, I’ve heard so many things about it, its hard to seperate fact from fiction, legend from truth.  Here’s a short list of what I’ve seen claimed about null sec already:

• Corps in null sec are never short of qualified pilots, because they get hundreds of applications to join their corps.

• A good pilot in null sec can earn three billion ISK a day!

• A decent pilot in null sec can earn one billion ISK a day!

• Null sec is actually *safer* than Empire space, because of War Declarations and gankers.

• Everything is cheaper in null sec, because you have easier access to the more expensive materials.

• In null sec because of the money you’re making, its no big deal to lose a Heavy Assault Cruiser a day in combat.

Now I have a pretty good baloney meter.  In part because years ago I spent time hanging out behind the scenes of Snopes, working on the message board to resolve urban legends inquiries.  And let me tell you, most (if not all) of the above smells like baloney to me.

But I’m willing to try it…just as soon as I find a way in.  One of my corpmates last night tried to.  He made it through the first four gate camps, but theirs only so many interceptors you can dodge and so far luck will take you.  So until then, I’m following up on an invite to put my battlecruiser to use this week.  Wish me luck.

Note:  I’m having a minor, elective procedure done this afternoon, and will probably not feel much like, you know, thinking coherently, or typing posts, for the next 48 hours or so.  I have one post partially done in advance, but there’s a good chance I may miss a posting this week.  Thanks in advance for your patience!

The Gathering Storm

“No sooner did the traitors discover their approach than they ‘skiddaddled’, (a phrase the Union boys up here apply to the good use the seceshers make of their legs in time of danger).”

~ New York Tribune, 10 August 1861

I’ve long pondered what type of corp we are, with our stunningly mixed variety of players.  We have a PvP corp, and an industrial corp within our alliance, but what are we?  I decided last night that we are an Espionage corp.  I swear, while communication within the alliance is spotty at best, we have all sorts of communication going on outside the alliance.

Somehow one of our guys learned (and I don’t know how he learned, and I don’t want to know how) that the pocket of space we have been in, a high sec pocket with  low sec wings coming off of it, was about to get “shut down.”  See that high sec pocket is kind of an island off the beaten path, and was a nice home where there was relative peace.  But recently the pirate activity has grown more….bold.  And apparently several of the pirate corps have started to lay down the jaws of a trap.  A divide and conquer to lock down the edges of that high sec pocket and bleed it dry.

So the order came down almost immediately…we were pulling out.  A full alliance regroup, several systems away.  A giant stockpile of warp core stabilizers appeared in the corp hanger.  Scout patrols were organized.  Ore was unloaded on the market.

We skedaddled.  The quote above is, according to teh internetz, the first printed use of the word, which has a origin as shrouded in mystery as our intelligence service is.  The move has been a mixed blessing for me.  The good news is that we have moved to a more accessible system, and my profits from selling salvage has gone up as a result.  The downside is that when we unloaded on the market, we dried up the buy orders, and so the vast majority of my interceptor fund, which I will need in about 4 days here, is stuck in a place where I can only get 1.00 ISK per unit for it, and which is surrounded by several bloodthirsty pirate corps.

The main question I think we all have is how this will effect our efforts to aid Ethereal Dawn.  While a number of our combat pilots put jump clones down there, that will only hold them for so long, and we have lost our direct jump bridges connections behind a wall of reds.  Which makes me wonder if perhaps this wasn’t a pirate move, but a war manuever.

If so, the “skedaddle” term applies better than any of us realized.