The more we learn the less we know

Things have been chaotic lately. First I have been busy with the establishment of a Starbase for the Society. Once that was settled, research and mining various databases for information has taken much time.

I had established a few leads but the reformation had removed much information from the period I am investigating. I'm sure this is for good reason but it increases the challenge of my search somewhat. To that end I searched a number of sources for sites of significance to both the Blood Raiders and the Sani Sabik.

This I have had to do carefully. The last thing I wish to do is cause any alerts or flags by the Theology Council and Ministry of Internal Order for looking too hard at heretical texts or information on Galnet. I am a loyal and Pious man and have no desire to cause any such disruption. As such I am careful in my search terms and the way I couch my requests with any Archivists.

However I did start to raise some leads of a site of significance to the raiders. The site named "The Cauldron" seemed to appear in a number of recently intercepted messages and in writings going back into antiquity. All I could find about it seemed to indicate a high level of excitement about what went on there and the writers always seemed in awe of the activities. They were always couched in terms of holy significance and religious epiphany. It rested in the Araz Constellation, which again matched my belief that my search is tied with the exodus of the first Sabik. Throught the Constellation are many sites that link back into the past and some that continue to be used to this day, thousands of years later. I thought this site was promising and must give me some information on my search at the very least.

I raised my crew and voyaged to Araz and searched for the location. This took some days but at last I was able to detect a number of raider vessels coming and going from a site. It had strong magnetometric readings indicating a large station of some kind and metals indicative of an ancient structure. Awaiting a relatively quiet period I warped into site and was amazed and disgusted by what I found.

Rather than a site of a repository of heretical artifacts and information I was disgusted to discover the site was that of a giant fighting arena. From what I can tell captives would be made to fight to the death and then the blooders would take the victor and perform some act of barbarity in line with their sacrilegious beliefs. I despaired that these creatures would hold such an act so highly and obviously this has been going on for centuries at least. In my anger I destroyed the ships guarding the facility and wrecked as much damage as I could on the hell hole itself.

The Cauldron, a forsaken place of debauched slaughter

I returned to Amarr Prime to pray in the Basilica to cleanse myself of the horrors I had seen. For all that I am learning and discovering on the beliefs of these accursed people each time I am still horrified when I meet the level of depravity they are willing to go to. I begin to fear if I am mistaken, how could such Holy artifacts be in the possession of such evil? I must believe that the current depravities of the Raiders are somehow separate to that at least of the ancient Sabik and that my goals lie forgotten somewhere far from their grasp.

There is no education like adversity.

searching a site of some past destruction

My initial investigations have been underway. I have been searching the route between Amarr Prime and the Araz constellations searching for evidence of the migration of the Takmahl. After several days I was finding much of the detritus of thousands of years of space travel but little of the signs I sought.

At that point I began to look at where I have been travelling. The realisation that I had been in high security space the entire survey struck me. The route was one that has been laid down for centuries and well traveled. Could it be the sites along that way had been picked over in the intervening years? I put down any doubt of the discovery to my original hypothesis that if it had been found there would be tell.

So I decided to take to low security space to conduct my search. This did begin to lift my spirits as I found two sites of archaeological note. One site held the ruins of some past conflict but evidence did not seem to indicate the period I was interested in. The second however turned out to be an ancient cryoship. I have scanned this and taken footage from camera drones sent through the wreckage. This will require some greater analysis but at first look, may have been a later diaspora of the Sani Sabik rather than the original Takmahl.

Alas in my enthusiasm for the search I let down my guard for a moment. In the cutthroat world of the lawless territories this was all that was needed. Another capsuleer had tracked me down and I was attacked. A fierce battle between a pirate Proteus and my Legion ensued but alas I my ship was rigged for exploration with limited self defence. Despite this the "Omid" held up well but was lost.

While the Strategic cruisers that have come from the exploration of Anoikis have been a great boon they have a significant drawback. There is something about mating the capsule with their interface that causes a great neural shock on the occasion of the ships destruction. This feedback has left me unsteady so the last day I spent quietly visiting the trade hubs of Amarr and Jita to obtain a replacement for my ship and her equipment. This I have achieved and taken her out for a shake down trip. I discovered a wormhole to distant Aridia. On passing through the wormhole the unease and slight discomfort from the loss of my ship passed and I felt myself once more. I do not know why but have taken it as a sign of the Lord of his satisfaction that I have begun my search once more.

Scanning the remains of an ancient cryoship for information

I shall take some days to review the data I have obtained and review what I have discovered so far. While there has been some adversity I can not but feel elated that the background research is paying out and the physical steps down this path has begun.

Inquiry is fatal to certainty

I have made it to Site One. Crossing the war zone in the Bleak Lands was a challenge in both directions but I was able to avoid both the tribalists and Pirates despite their gate camps.

There were no capsuleers present but a considerable baseliner staff. They were most helpful finding me quarters and facilitating my research. I ended up staying at the for three days going over their libraries and the results of the many research teams that had once been busy here. It seemed that use of the facilities and the large scale research had petered off. I can only speculate if this is the result of the Empyrean war or some other aspect has drawn capsuleers away. I have obtained copies of all the research which pertains to the Takmahl, and more besides. You never know how one thing may lead to another. 

While I have not discovered any significant breakthrough in my search things do seem to indicate the Takmahl were indeed highly proficient in cybernetics and bioengineering. These support the possibilities that they had access to the Ametat and Avetat and have built this in building their own civilization. That they seemed to have progressed from a group of settlers to a high technology multi star system civilization implies, to me at least, that they had something to guide them. From their abhorrent practices it could not have been God, but perverting the gifts of the Sefrim? We shall see. Something has propelled them beyond their means, even if I do not find what I seek mayhaps I will find something that will help against the Sani sabik.

It appears the next stage of my journey is in the Araz constellation, I am planning some small scale investigation but I may soon need seek the aid of the Society. 

leaving Site One

Study the past if you would define the future

So it would appear I am not the only capsuleer with an interest in the Takmahl.  In my research I have discovered papers from a group calling themselves Project Revelation. This is, or possibly was, (given the gap since their last published paper) a group investigating many aspects of the Takmahl. 

From their writings it appears they only have a cursory interest in the artifacts. However what they have discovered may help me.Their group seems to be part of a larger group called Arek'Jaalan. I have heard something of this in passing. Something about a scientist who a defected from the state and ran to the tribalist regions. 

Such affiliations raise obvious concerns. I hope this group chose the region to pursue they're program as the lawlessness or the low levels of education provided them with some protection or anonymity. From what I have been able to discern they are based at a place they term "Site One" in the Eram system of the Metropolis Region. Traveling so far into the tribalist regions causes me no small amount of concern. An Amarrian going in those areas is always taking a risk but if I am to pursue this I shall be going into places of danger and I must trust in the Lord

A journey of a thousand light years begins with a single warp

Have begun the research in to where the Ametat and Avetat may have gone.

The scriptures report that they went missing around four hundred years after the death of Amish akura. There have been many whom have sought them since. The two most famous being IIash Toth  and Harr Indi. 

Indi was shown to have been a pretender but IIash has been source of much debate. There are stories that he had found them and disappeared into the void ranging to being wiped out by the Jovian's. Our experience since has certainly shown the Jovian's are capable of such an act. However Space is full of many dangers that could have affected him and his followers. So some forgotten outpost or colony site is certainly one of the possibilities.

I do not believe that any Amarr could find them and not make it known. No true Amarr would ever be able to do such a thing. However I found myself drawn to an event around the right time. This was a stage when the Sani Sabik were first going as a force. That such a group and the heretical beliefs were closely tied is an unusual coincidence. I also look at the desertion of the Empire by these heretics that became the people known as the Takmahl.

The Takmahl had a rapid rise to a technological level especially in the bio-engineering and cybernetics fields. These are precisely the fields that a group that had stolen the very artefacts I seek would be expected to pursue. Maybe their destruction was the result of God's intervention for their sins or maybe something else.

As such I feel these are the two areas I must begin with, the remains of lost and forgotten Amarr colonies and the realm and history of the Takmahl. Back to the Research

A Man without a goal is like a ship without thrusters

Welcome, I have decided to write this journal to help myself keep my ideas straight and provide a place to review. I have decided to keep this open so that others that may go through similar journeys may find a help and so those who are aware of my quest may know of what I seek.

For some time I had been following material goals. Things such as to obtain such and such a ship or amass so much Isk. I have achieved all these goals but each time it was a hollow victory, only to be replaced by reaching for more but not for substance. I hoped that to obtain the next would fill the nagging sense of need. I took leadership roles in some corporations and started my own leading them to success but still there was a nagging need for more. In the end I dropped my corporate push for wealth and joined the Societas Imperialis Sceptri Coronaeque. This Society was of like pious people working to support the Empire and do God's work. This gave me a new light but when asking for a goal I was told to "do what I must and follow the Lord will show the way." This left me wandering still

This reached a head and I had to take time to review what was going on. I took a leave of absence from the Society and went on a pilgrimage of the sites of the great war across the continent of Amarr of the great Emperor Amash-Akura against Molok the Deceiver.

By day I would trudge across the deserts of Amarr going from site to site and by night I would listen to the stories of the sacred brothers telling the history and discussing the scriptures. With each I would discuss my yearning and each would tell me to "do what I must and follow the Lord will show the way."

Over the three weeks I learned much of both our history and my own faith and beliefs. These weeks of having nothing more than what I could carry and that given by the monasteries and refuges along the way reminded me of the excess one can slip into as a capsuleer. Spending time with holy men showed me how despite being of faith that I had slipped into concerns over the mortal and mundane and lost touch with the greater needs of my faith.

It was at the final night as I stood at the site where Molok was executed I realised my calling.

Here I was, a pious man, a man with access to great wealth and resources. A man with a fleet of ships specifically designed and fitted for exploration of the great void and with dedicated laboratories and science staff for research. I can not die and no threat can stop my immortal drive. I had even been guided by the hand of God to the Imperial Society of Scepter and Crown. I knew then as the setting sun lit the sky red that my goal in life was to once more return the Ametat and Avetat, the Scepter and Crown to the Empire and our Empress. The strength and prosperity the return shall reestablish our rightful place in the cluster.

In this I shall not fail.